Roof repairs in New Milton
Cracked ridge and hip mortar, weather side verges, slipped concrete tiles, split flat roofs and older slate near the station, repaired across BH25.
The site visit is free and so is the written itemised quote. Thomas Hannen prices every job himself.
Last updated
Roof repairs in BH25
A tile, a stain or mortar on the path
Yes, we repair roofs across New Milton: a loose hip on a bungalow, a slipped concrete tile on an eighties semi, a split felt roof over a flat or a shop, or a slate that has lost its nail near the station. We mend the spot where water gets in and put the price in writing after a free site visit.
Got water coming through a ceiling in BH25? Ring 07435 839745 and say which room it is under.
Usually there is something to see from the garden. A ridge tile has shifted after a gusty night. A brown patch has spread across the ceiling of the back bedroom, right where the kitchen extension joins the house.
We look at the slopes from the ground first, then go up on a roof ladder where it is safe to, and check the loft from the hatch in daylight. You see photographs of the fault and get a written price for mending it. If the roof as a whole is finished, we say so plainly. How the price is built is set out on how we price a job.
The repairs
What fails first on a New Milton roof
Most of the town was built after the war, with a big run of estates in the eighties, so the roof over your head is most likely concrete interlocking tile on bitumen felt. Add plenty of flats and terraces, bungalows in pockets and some slate near the station, and these are the repairs that follow.
Ridge and hip mortar. On a concrete tiled roof from the seventies or eighties, the ridge and hip tiles sit on a bed of sand and cement with nothing else holding them. Frost opens hairline cracks, rain washes the bedding out, and one day a ridge tile rocks when the wind catches it. We lift the loose run and either rebed it with a screw or clip into every tile, or swap the mortar for a dry fixed system to BS 8612 that has nothing to crack. Allow about a day for a ridge on a typical semi.
Gable verges on the weather side. New Milton is under two miles from the sea as the crow flies, and the south west gable takes the driven rain. The mortar under the end tiles drops out, and a strong blow can then strip a row off. We refix the end tiles and fit dry verge units screwed into the batten ends. A pair of gables is usually a day from a tower.
Slipped concrete tiles. Interlocking tiles of that age were often held only by the nib hooked over the batten, with a nail every few courses. When a batten softens or a nail rusts, a tile creeps down and opens the lock beside it. We slide the courses above, fit a tile of the same profile and fix it with a clip or nail as BS 5534 now asks. Half a dozen tiles reached from a roof ladder take a morning.
Felt torn at the eaves. Look behind the gutter from an upstairs window. Felt hanging there in black rags means rain is dripping onto the fascia and the wall top. We lift the bottom two courses, cut the rotten felt back to sound, lay a strip of breathable membrane and an eaves tray, and relay the tiles. A soft fascia under it is a job for fascias, soffits and guttering on the same visit.
Hipped bungalows. Bungalow areas here are mostly plain hipped roofs, so every corner carries a hip, and the weak spot is where the hips meet the ridge. The mortar at that junction cracks and lets water straight down onto the ceiling below. We rebed or dry fix the hips, check the hip iron at the foot of each one, and dress a lead saddle over the junction where there was none. On a shallow lean-to added at the back, a tile laid below its minimum pitch lets wind blown rain back under the lap.
Flat roofs over flats, shops and garages. The east side of Station Road is a run of 1970s flat roofed blocks three or four storeys high with shops beneath, and Ferndale Road has a parade with flats over the shops. Felt on these blisters and splits, the upstand against the wall pulls away, water ponds where the deck has sagged, and outlets and box gutters silt up. A split over a firm, dry deck can be cut out and patched. A deck that gives underfoot has taken water, and patching it only buys a season. More on flat roofing in New Milton. In a block, the repair is instructed by whoever manages the building.
Slate and lead on the older houses. The town grew around the station after 1888, and some of the older houses near it, such as the big detached houses east of Station Road and the semis and short terraces off Manor Road, have slate or clay with chimneys and valleys. Slates slide when their nails rust through, which is nail sickness, and a few are held back with a tingle. Lead in valleys and back gutters splits with age. On these houses the chimney is where we look first: the flaunching on top, the step flashing and the soakers. See chimney repairs.
Dry fix on the newer estate. The late nineties houses off Stem Lane were often finished with dry ridge and dry verge from the start. There the fault is a plastic verge cap cracked by the sun or blown off, or a ridge clip that has let go. The replacement cap has to match the system already fitted.
When to stop patching. If tiles are cracking across the whole slope, the felt falls apart wherever a tile is lifted and the battens are soft, the next repair will not be the last. That is a re-cover, and our page for roofers in New Milton covers it.
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.
For the town, planning and building control sit with New Forest District Council. A repair that leaves the roof looking the same normally needs no application, and the Planning Portal guidance explains where that line falls. The one place in New Milton where a repair needs more thought is Old Milton Green, set out further down.
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. Here that might be a hipped bungalow whose eaves you can nearly reach from the lawn, an eighties two storey house with a garage roof in front of the slope, or a flat roof three storeys up over a Station Road shop, where the managing agent has to agree the access first. 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. After a south westerly, walk round the house before you ring: look at the weather side gable verge and the hips, and at the flat roof over the extension where it meets the wall. 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.
Old Milton
Repairing a roof near Old Milton Green
Nearly every New Milton street, the town centre included, is outside any conservation area, so an ordinary repair needs no application. The exception is the small Old Milton Green conservation area, around the Green and the parish church of St Mary Magdalene.
Inside that boundary, a like for like repair is maintenance: the same tile or slate, the same ridge, bedded the way it was. Changing what shows is a different matter. Swapping slate or clay for concrete interlocking tile, a mortar ridge for a plastic dry ridge, or adding a dry verge or a roof window can need a word with New Forest District Council first. The Planning Portal guidance is a fair starting point. The church itself is listed, and work that affects the character of a listed building needs consent under section 7 of the Listed Buildings Act.
So by the Green we lean towards repair for longer: a salvaged slate or tile of the same size and profile, and a ridge rebedded in mortar where that was the original detail. Not sure if you are inside the boundary? Give us the postcode and we check before quoting.
Who you are dealing with
A local firm you can check
We cover the whole of New Milton, from Old Milton and the town centre up to the estates by Stem Lane, all within BH25 and just under eight miles from our base in Boscombe. New Forest District Council is the planning authority for the town. 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 New Milton
Nearby places we also cover for roof repairs, with straight-line distances from New Milton, and the other trades we offer in New Milton itself.
Roof repairs nearby
Our other trades in New Milton
Builders in New Milton: all our building work Everything we do in New Milton Roof repairs, all areas Every area we cover
Questions
Questions about roof repairs in New Milton
Can you fix one slipped tile without a scaffold?
Often, yes. Over a porch or a bungalow eaves, a ladder and a roof ladder usually reach it. On a two storey gable or a steep slope the HSE guidance on when a ladder is the right equipment may point to a tower, and we will say which before we price it.
My ridge mortar is cracking. Should it be rebedded or dry fixed?
Both work. Rebedding keeps the look, with a mechanical fixing in each tile. A dry ridge has no mortar to wash out, but near Old Milton Green check with the council first.
The flat roof on my extension holds puddles. Patch it or re-cover it?
If puddles clear in a day or two and the deck is firm, clearing the outlet and patching may do. Water sitting for days means the falls have gone and the covering wants replacing.
Is spring or autumn better for getting a roof repaired?
A repair can go ahead in any month. Wind stops us going up more often than cold does. Mortar should not be laid in frost and some flat roof coverings need a dry, mild day, so in a cold snap we make the roof weathertight first and finish the bedding when the weather allows.
Who is responsible if a roofer is hurt working on my roof?
On work to your own home, the legal duties for safety on site pass to the contractor, as the HSE explains for domestic clients.
Free quote
Tell us what your New Milton roof is doing
Send your postcode and what you have spotted, whether that is a tile on the drive, a ceiling stain or a puddle on the flat roof. We come and look, then put the repair in writing.