Roof repairs in Sandleheath
Clay plain tiles on the brick cottages, concrete tiles and hips on the post-war bungalows, lead, chimneys and felt garage roofs, repaired across Sandleheath.
The site visit is free and so is the written itemised quote. Thomas Hannen prices every job himself.
Last updated
Roof repairs
Find where the water gets in, and mend that
A leak usually starts at a single weak spot, and mending that spot is often all the roof needs. We trace the water back to where it gets in, whether that is a clay plain tile on an old brick cottage or a concrete tile on a post-war bungalow, repair that spot, and give you a free visit and a written, itemised price.
If water is coming in now, ring 07435 839745 and say which ceiling it is showing on.
Perhaps a small red clay tile has slid off the front slope of a cottage and is lying in the gutter. A yellow tide mark has spread across the bedroom ceiling below the end chimney after a wet week. Or the felt roof over the garage beside the drive is holding a puddle that will not drain away.
We look at the slopes from the road and the garden, go up where a roof ladder is safe, and put a torch into the loft. You get photographs of the fault and a written quote for mending it.
The repairs
Slipped tiles, tired ridges and leaks around the stack
Sandleheath has two main kinds of pitched roof: the older red brick cottages, usually under small clay plain tiles, and the post-war houses and bungalows, mostly under concrete interlocking tile on bitumen felt. They fail in different places.
Plain tiles sliding off a cottage slope. A clay plain tile hangs on the batten by two small nibs, and on an old roof only some courses were ever nailed. When a nib snaps or a nail rusts through, the tile drops and leaves a gap two courses deep. We ease up the tiles above and hang a matching clay tile, nailed, or held with a tile hook where the course above cannot be lifted without breaking more. On natural slate, a slipped slate goes back on a lead or copper tingle.
Bonnet hips on the old roofs. A cottage hip is usually a run of curved bonnet tiles, each bedded in mortar and nailed to the hip rafter, with a hip iron at the foot. When the bedding crumbles, the bottom bonnet slides and the rest follow. We lift the loose run, clean off the old bedding and set each one back with a fixing into the timber, which is what BS 5534 now expects.
Damp on the gable wall below an end stack. With the chimney at the gable, a leak at the stack runs down inside the end wall and shows on the bedroom wall, well away from the ridge. Look first at the step flashing, the soakers beside the stack and the back gutter behind it. We re-dress or renew that lead, and cracked flaunching or open brick joints are chimney repairs on the same visit.
Perished felt at the eaves on post-war roofs. The felt strip that laps into the gutter splits first, and water runs behind the gutter into the fascia and wall plate. We lift the bottom courses, cut back the rotten felt, fit an eaves carrier tray and lap new membrane over it. A soft fascia is fascias, soffits and guttering work, done while the tiles are up.
Bungalow hips and ridge. A hipped bungalow carries a long run of hip and ridge for its size, all bedded in sand and cement, and every joint is a place for frost to open. We re-bed the run with a screw or clip in each tile, or strip it and fit a dry system to BS 8612.
Valleys and gale damage. Moss and leaves in a valley hold water against the trough, and clearing them is sometimes the whole repair; a split trough means lifting the tiles either side. After a gale we sheet the gap, photograph what has gone and price the permanent fix.
Felt over a garage or dormer. If the deck is dry and firm, a split or blister can be patched. If it bounces underfoot, the deck has taken water and that is flat roofing in Sandleheath.
When patching is the wrong answer. Felt that tears wherever a tile is lifted, battens soft enough to take a screwdriver, and the same slope leaking in a new place each winter all mean you are paying for repairs a re-cover would end. That is a job for our roofers in Sandleheath.
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 repair in the same material counts as maintenance, and Sandleheath has no conservation area, so an unlisted house needs no application for one. Planning Portal guidance on roofs explains where changing a covering starts to need permission. The parish has two listed entries, and on a listed building work that affects its character needs consent, so New Forest District Council is the one to ask before a detail changes.
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 Sandleheath that can be a steep clay roof on a brick cottage beside the B3078 with its stack at the gable, a post-war bungalow with hips at each corner, or a detached house with a felt garage roof next to the drive. 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. When you ring about a Sandleheath roof, tell us whether it is clay plain tile or concrete and whether the drip is by the chimney, a valley or the eaves, so the right tiles and lead come on the first visit. 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.
Before we refix a tile
A cottage roof that used to be thatch
The Old Ship, one of two listed buildings here, is a late eighteenth-century red brick cottage on the B3078. Its listing records that the roof, formerly thatched, is now tiled and reinforced with steel inside, with the substantial purlins and common rafters largely in place. Timbers put up for thatch were not cut for clay tile, and a steep cottage with big old purlins may share that history.
So if plain tiles keep slipping from one slope, or you can see a dip in it from the road, we check the purlins and rafter feet from the loft before a single tile is refixed. New nails will not hold a slope whose purlin has sagged.
Tiles go back like for like in clay plain tile. A concrete interlocking tile is a different size and gauge, is made for shallower roofs than these, and looks wrong on an old cottage. A range that is still thatched needs a specialist thatcher, and we work only on the tiled side and the lead between them. On a listed house, anything beyond like for like needs consent.
Who you are dealing with
A local firm you can check
We cover the whole of Sandleheath in SP6 1, from the older cottages along the B3078 to the post-war roads behind them, about fourteen miles from our base at 80a Wolverton Road, Boscombe. The village is outside the National Park, so New Forest District Council handles planning and building control. 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 Sandleheath
Nearby places we also cover for roof repairs, with straight-line distances from Sandleheath, and the other trades we offer in Sandleheath itself.
Roof repairs nearby
Our other trades in Sandleheath
Everything we do in Verwood Roof repairs, all areas Every area we cover
Questions
Questions about roof repairs in Sandleheath
Can you match the old clay plain tiles on my Sandleheath cottage?
Usually, yes. Plain tiles come in a few standard sizes, so we match the size, colour and camber from new or reclaimed tile to sit flat on the courses below. On a listed cottage, like for like is what keeps a repair from becoming an alteration.
Is scaffold included in a repair price?
Access is a separate line on the written quote, so you can see what it adds. A low eaves may need only a ladder and roof ladder, while a stack on a two storey gable usually needs a platform. The HSE is clear that ladders are allowed for short, low-risk work, and anything longer or higher needs something safer.
Should I repair the roof or replace it?
Repair while the battens are sound and the felt holds together when a tile is lifted. Once the underlay tears at a touch, or leaks move to a new place each winter, a new roof covering is the better spend. We show you photographs of what we found so you can decide.
Will my house insurance pay for storm damage to the roof?
That is for your insurer to decide. Tiles blown off in a gale may count as storm damage; crumbled bedding is usually wear. Read the three questions the Financial Ombudsman asks about a storm claim and the ombudsman on gradual damage. We can give you dated photographs and a written description of what we found.
Free quote
Tell us what your Sandleheath roof is doing
Send your postcode and what you have spotted: a tile in the gutter, a stain by the chimney or a puddle on the garage roof. We come and look, then put the repair in writing.