Roof repairs in Canford Cliffs
Slipped tiles and slates, lifted ridges, split flat roofs on the blocks and tired lead round the chimneys, repaired across Canford Cliffs once the fault is found.
The site visit is free and so is the written itemised quote. Thomas Hannen prices every job himself.
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Canford Cliffs roof repairs
Finding the fault on a roof near the cliffs
Yes, we repair roofs in Canford Cliffs, from a slate that has slid off a turret to a cracked ridge on a concrete tiled house or a split in the felt on a block of flats. We find the one place the water gets in, repair that, and put the price in writing after a free site visit.
If rain is getting into a room today, ring 07435 839745 and tell us which side of the building the wet is on.
A gale blows through from the south west and next morning there is a tile on the lawn, off the side of the house that looks towards the sea. A ceiling on the top floor of a block has a wet ring in the corner where the roof meets the outside wall. Or on an older house near the village a slate has come to rest in the gutter, and there is a drip beside the chimney breast.
We look from the ground, go up where it is safe, and check the loft from inside. You see photographs of the failed tile, lead or felt and a written price for that part. If a slope is past saving, we say so.
What we fix
Tiles, slates and flat roofs on the blocks and villas
Canford Cliffs began as a Victorian estate of big houses on big plots. From the early fifties plots were divided, bigger houses were redeveloped and blocks of flats went up. Most homes here are flats now, and most of the houses are detached. That leaves three quite different kinds of roof, and each lets water in at its own weak points.
Flat roofs on the blocks. Some blocks carry a flat roof in felt or a single ply membrane. The felt blisters and splits where it turns up against a wall, the outlet silts up so water sits on the roof, and an edge trim lifted by the wind lets rain run back under the covering. We clear the outlet, cut out the split, bond a patch over it and re-dress the upstand, which on a dry, firm deck is a few hours' work. If the boards underneath have gone soft, a patch will not hold, and we tell you that before you pay for one. Full renewals are under flat roofing in Canford Cliffs.
Concrete tiles on the pitched blocks and newer houses. Post-war houses and the pitched blocks are mostly in concrete interlocking tile. The weak spots are the ridge and hips, where the mortar under each capping tile cracks and a gale lifts it, and the verges on the gable ends, where the mortar washes out. We either rebed the ridge with a mechanical fixing in every tile, or change it to a dry ridge and dry verge to BS 8612. A run of ridge is usually a day. Some older concrete profiles are no longer made, so a single broken tile may come from a reclamation yard or from a hidden spot on the same roof.
Clay and slate on the older houses. Around the village and the chine the council describes large red brick or rendered houses under clay tile, many with corner turrets and ornate porches, with slate on others. Old clay plain tiles flake on the face and lose the nibs that hang them on the batten, and then they slide out of the course. We fit a matching tile and hold it with a tile hook where the course above cannot be lifted. Slates slip when their nails rust through, and we hold a single slate back in place with a tingle. Turrets are laid tight to a curve or a cone, so cut tiles and the lead collar at the top need a careful hand. Where two slopes meet at a valley, the lead or the valley tiles are relined with the courses either side lifted and relaid, usually a day or two.
Under the slates. Some older roofs have no felt, only lime torching on the underside of the slates. When it drops away, driving rain gets in, and it can be renewed from inside while the slates are sound.
Chimneys. The tall stacks on these houses leak through stepped flashings that have pulled out of their joints, split soakers, a back gutter full of needles and moss, or cracked flaunching round the pots. New lead alone will not stop a stack that is letting water through its own brickwork, which is chimney repairs.
Gutters and the roofline. Fascias and gutters on the side that faces the weather take the worst of it. A gutter that tips back towards the house, or a rotten fascia board, can put water inside the wall where it looks exactly like a roof leak, so see fascias and gutters in Canford Cliffs as well.
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.
Putting back the same tile or slate is a repair with no application, and the Planning Portal guidance explains where that stops. Canford Cliffs has two conservation areas of its own, Canford Cliffs Village around the shops and Branksome Park and Chine Gardens coming in from the east, and the council keeps the list. Inside either one, a repair on an older house goes back in matching clay tile or natural slate.
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 Canford Cliffs that could be a late Victorian house with a corner turret and tall stacks, a post-war detached house with a concrete tiled hip roof, or a block several storeys high whose flat roof is reached through a hatch off the top landing. 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. While a gale is still blowing, keep people and cars clear of the seaward eaves, because a loose ridge or tile can still come down, and if one has already fallen, keep the pieces so we can match the profile. 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.
Salt and wind
The slope that faces the sea wears out first
The sea is well under a mile from the middle of Canford Cliffs, with Poole Harbour not much further the other way. Houses along Cliff Drive, Chaddesley Glen and Flaghead Chine Road meet the wind and the salt before anything inland does. Salt settles on the tiles and keeps them damp, and it eats at steel: the nail shanks, the tile clips and the fixings holding lead and trims. On the elevation facing the water those fixings give up long before the ones on the sheltered back slope.
So one slipped tile or slate on the seaward side is often the first sign that the nails across that slope have rusted. Before we put it back, we lift a few of its neighbours and look at their nails. If they are sound, it stays a one-tile job. If they have rusted thin, putting tiles back one at a time just chases the fault along the course. The honest options are then a temporary fix while you decide, or stripping and refixing that one elevation on corrosion resistant fixings, with the tiles clipped for the wind exposure BS 5534 sets out, leaving the sheltered slopes alone. A tingle on a slate buys time. It does not cure a rusted slope. Only when the back slopes are failing too does it become whole-roof work for our roofers in Canford Cliffs.
Who you are dealing with
A local firm you can check
We cover Canford Cliffs and the rest of BH13, from the shops on Haven Road out to Chaddesley Glen and Western Road, with Lilliput and Branksome Park on either side. BCP Council handles planning and building control, and our base in Boscombe is 4.3 miles away. 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 Canford Cliffs
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Our other trades in Canford Cliffs
Everything we do in Canford Cliffs Roof repairs, all areas Every area we cover
Questions
Questions about roof repairs in Canford Cliffs
One tile has slipped on the sea side. Is that the only one?
Maybe, maybe not. On a slope that takes the salt wind, a slipped tile can mean the nails across that slope have rusted. We lift the tiles around it and look. Sound nails, and it is a single repair. Rusted ones, and you get photographs and a written price for refixing that slope.
Can you match the old clay tiles on a Victorian house?
Usually, yes. Old handmade clay tiles vary in colour and camber. We look for reclaimed tiles of the same size and colour, or borrow sound ones from a hidden slope and put the new tiles there. Inside a conservation area, a close match is what keeps it a plain repair.
Should a cracked ridge be rebedded or dry fixed?
Either can be right. Rebedding in mortar keeps the look of an older roof, as long as each ridge tile is also mechanically fixed. A dry ridge system to BS 8612 has no mortar to crack and suits many concrete tiled roofs. We show you the options on the quote.
Is it worth patching a flat roof on a block or a garage?
If the split is local and the deck underneath is dry and firm, yes. If the felt is blistered all over, the deck is soft or it has been patched several times already, a patch will not last, and renewing the covering is the better spend.
What should a repair on my roof cost?
There is no fair figure without seeing the roof. The price turns on access, what the fault turns out to be, what material goes back and whether anything under the tiles needs renewing. How we price a job sets out how we reach a written, itemised figure after a free visit.
Am I liable if a roofer falls off my roof?
On work to your own home, the safety duties sit with the contractor, not with you. Under CDM 2015, a domestic client's CDM duties pass to the contractor, so planning the access and the platform is the roofer's job. The HSE page on CDM 2015 and domestic clients explains it. Before anyone starts, check the firm is real: ours is company number 15471719 at Companies House.
Free quote
Tell us which side of the roof is letting water in
Send the postcode, whether it is a house or a flat, and where the wet shows. Thomas comes out, finds the fault and puts the repair in writing.