Roof repairs in Burley
Slipped clay tiles and slates, rocking ridges, split lead and leaking chimneys in Burley, New Forest, mended with a tile that matches the one that failed.
The site visit is free and so is the written itemised quote. Thomas Hannen prices every job himself.
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Roof repairs in Burley
Clay, slate and thatch in one New Forest village
Yes, we repair roofs in Burley in the New Forest: slipped and cracked clay tiles and slates, rocking ridges, split flashings, leaking chimneys and flat roofs that have given up. We find where the water gets in, mend that part with a tile or slate that matches, and put the price in writing after a free site visit.
If water is dripping into a room as you read this, ring 07435 839745 and tell us which room and which side of the house.
A big clay tile lying in the flower bed after a night of south westerly wind. A brown ring on the bedroom ceiling next to the chimney breast. Water running down the inside of a dormer window every time it rains. A damp patch in the lean-to where its tiles meet the thatch of the cottage.
Each of those is one fault in one place, and the rest of the roof is usually sound. We go up, look into the loft if there is a hatch, work out what the roof is covered with, photograph the fault and write down what it needs. On a Burley roof the covering matters as much as the fault, because the repair has to match what is already there.
The repairs
What goes wrong on a Burley roof, covering by covering
In the one village you will find thatch, handmade plain clay tiles, large interlocking Bridgwater pattern clay tiles from the early twentieth century, natural slate and, on later houses, concrete. Each fails in its own way and is mended in its own way.
Bridgwater pattern clay tiles. These big tiles lock into each other along the side and at the head. When one cracks, or loses a nib or a corner of its lock, the tiles next to it stop locking and driven rain gets in behind. The new tile has to be the same pattern and the same size. A modern clay interlock of a different gauge will not sit in the lock, and a concrete tile is thicker and heavier and will not lie flat among clay ones. We lift the tiles above, slide in the matched tile and clip it down. Fitting a few is a morning. Finding the right tile is what takes the time.
Handmade plain clay tiles. A plain tile hangs on two nibs over the batten, with nails every few courses. Old nibs snap and old nails rust, and the tile drops out of its course and leaves a slot. On the oldest roofs there is no underlay at all, so that slot lets rain straight onto the loft boards and the ceiling below. We rehang or replace the tile, nail or clip it, and check along the course for the next ones about to go. Decorative bands of scallop and beaver tail tiles are matched shape for shape so the band still reads.
Natural slate. The slate lasts. The nails holding it do not. A slipped slate goes back with a tingle, a strip of lead or copper nailed to the batten and turned up under the bottom edge, or a slate hook. If slates are sliding all across a slope, every nail has gone, and a tingle on each one is money wasted. That is a re-slate, and our roofers in Burley page covers it.
Ridges, hips, gablets and catslides. Steep roofs here carry hipped ends, small gablets and long catslides, which means a lot of ridge, hip and valley for the size of the house. The mortar under ridge and hip tiles cracks and the tile starts to rock. We rebed it with a mechanical fixing through each tile, which BS 5534 expects, or dry fix it. Decorative ridge tiles and finials are lifted one at a time, cleaned and put back where they came from. On the south west side, verges and ridge ends are the first to open.
Chimney flashings. Stepped flashings pull out of the mortar joints, soakers split, cement fillets crack and the back gutter behind the stack fills up. We renew or re-dress it in rolled lead, cut into lengths that can move, and repoint the chase. If the stack itself has open joints or loose flaunching, that is chimney repairs, and lead alone will not cure it.
Where thatch meets tile. We are not thatchers, and a thatched roof needs a specialist thatcher. Where a thatched cottage has a tiled extension, a lead gutter between the two roofs or a chimney coming through, the lead and the tiles are what we repair, and we will tell you plainly if the water is coming through the thatch instead.
Flat roofed dormers and extensions. Dormers that break through the eaves and later rear extensions are often flat roofed in felt, GRP fibreglass or EPDM rubber. They split and blister, the upstand against the wall lets go, or the outlet blocks. Over a firm, dry deck a split can be patched in a few hours. A deck that gives underfoot will not hold a patch. More on flat roofing in Burley.
Gutters that pass for leaks. A gutter running over, a cracked joint or a rotten fascia can put water down the inside of a wall and look exactly like a roof leak. Our page on fascias, soffits and guttering in Burley covers that side.
When repairing stops paying. Soft battens, felt that crumbles when a tile is lifted, or tiles flaking right across a slope mean the next repair will not be the last. The quote then prices the repair and the re-cover side by side, and the re-cover is work for our roofers in Burley.
How it runs
From your call to a written price
One person to ring from the first visit to the last. The quote is itemised, not a figure on the back of a card: access, where the fault is and what is being opened up to reach it, each tile, slate, ridge or flashing being renewed and what with, making good, and disposal on separate lines, so you can compare it properly against anyone else's.
Nothing is left open or unusable overnight. The site is swept at the end of each day rather than the end of the job, and what comes out leaves with us. If something turns up once we start that nobody could have seen, you get a photograph and a price before we carry on.
A like for like repair needs no planning application, as the Planning Portal guidance explains. Burley sits inside the New Forest National Park, so any change of covering goes to the National Park Authority, and a listed building needs listed building consent before its roof is touched. National Park heritage and conservation guidance sets out what the Park controls.
Cost
What decides the price of a roof repair
No rate per square metre, because a slipped tile over a porch and the same tile above a three storey gable are one repair and two very different jobs.
Getting to it. In Burley that runs from a single storey outbuilding under Bridgwater tiles, through a steep cottage with gablets, a catslide and a tall stack, to a two storey slate roofed house with a flat roofed dormer at the back. A tile over a porch or a bungalow eaves can often be reached from a ladder and a roof ladder. A ridge, a chimney or a valley on a two storey house usually wants a tower or a scaffold, so a small repair can still need a proper platform. The work at height rules decide that, which is why access is its own line on the quote and not hidden inside the repair.
Finding the cause, not the stain. Water runs along the battens and the underlay before it drips, so the mark on the ceiling is rarely under the fault. Tracing it back to a cracked tile, a lifted flashing, a perished valley or a ridge joint that has opened is part of the job, and a repair priced before anyone has looked is a guess.
What the repair uncovers. Lifting a few tiles shows the battens and the underlay around them. If they are sound the repair stays small. If the felt has perished or the battens have rotted, you get a photograph and a separate written price before anything more is done. Where patching stops being worth it is a conversation you have with the facts in front of you.
Comparing quotes? Ask what fault they actually found and where, whether access is included, what is being replaced and with what (a matched tile, new or reclaimed slate, which code of lead), whether the ridge and verge are being bedded in mortar or mechanically fixed, and what happens if more is found once the roof is open. Two quotes for the same job are usually two different jobs.
If it is leaking now
Water coming through a ceiling
Ring rather than use the form. Put a bowl under the drip, keep anything electrical away from the wet patch, and if a ceiling is bulging keep everyone out from under it. The first visit is about finding where the water gets in and making the roof weathertight, and the permanent repair is priced in writing once the fault can be seen properly. On a Burley cottage, tell us whether the wet patch is beside a chimney breast or under the spot where thatch meets a tiled roof, because that decides whether the first visit is ours or a thatcher's. Scheduled work runs Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm. For anything urgent, ring rather than use the form, and if we cannot pick up we ring you back as soon as we can.
Worth knowing
Keeping a Burley repair like for like
The Burley Conservation Area covers the village and the forest edge settlement around it, and the National Park Authority's own appraisal names clay tile as the main roofing material, with slate from the mid nineteenth century. It also discourages concrete tiles, because they have a much heavier profile than the clay and slate they replace. You can check whether your house is inside the boundary on the National Park Authority's interactive property map.
That changes how we repair. A broken Bridgwater tile is replaced with a Bridgwater pattern tile, reclaimed or new, or with a sound one taken from a slope nobody sees or from an outbuilding. It is never a concrete tile slotted in because it was on the van. Sourcing a matched tile can add days to a small job, and the quote says so. If a repair grows into re-covering a slope, clay back on clay or slate back on slate is maintenance. Changing to concrete is a change of appearance the Park would need to agree to. The appraisal also asks for chimney stacks and pots to be kept, so a leaking stack is repointed and reflashed, not taken down below the roof line.
Who you are dealing with
A local firm you can check
Burley is 8.8 miles from our base in Boscombe. We cover the village from The Cross and Pound Lane out to Burley Street, Burley Lawn, Bisterne Close and Castle Hill, all BH24. Planning sits with the New Forest National Park Authority and building control with New Forest District Council. You are dealing with Bournemouth Roofing & Building, the trading name of Bournemouth Roofing & Building Ltd, registered in England and Wales, company number 15471719, which you can look up in a minute. Thomas Hannen's business, and he is the one who comes out to price the job, not a salesman. A verified customer's 10 out of 10 on Checkatrade. The visit and the written quote are both free.
Nearby, and next door
Roof repairs near Burley
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Questions
Questions about roof repairs in Burley
What should a roof repair in Burley cost?
We do not publish a figure, because the same cracked tile can be a ladder job on an outbuilding or a scaffold job on a steep two storey gable, and a Bridgwater tile may need sourcing first. You get an itemised written price after a free visit, and how we price a job explains each line.
How can I tell a good roofer from a dodgy one?
A real firm has a Companies House entry you can find in a minute, and ours is company number 15471719. Expect photographs of the fault, an itemised quote in writing before anything starts, and no pressure to sign on the doorstep or pay in cash. Citizens Advice also warns against large deposits.
My thatched cottage has a wet ceiling. Who do I ring?
Ring us first if the wet patch is by a chimney or under a tiled part of the roof, because the lead and tiles are ours to repair. If the water is coming through the thatch, you need a specialist thatcher, and we will say so after looking rather than charge you for the wrong job.
Who is the right person to fix a leaking roof?
A roofer who goes up and into the loft and traces where the water gets in, before pricing anything. Sealant sprayed over the stain, or a quote given from the drive, fixes nothing you can check. The leak is mended at the fault, with a matching tile, slate or new lead.
Free quote
Get a written repair price for your Burley roof
Tell us the address and what the roof is doing. We come out, find the fault and put the repair in writing, item by item, at no cost.