Roof repairs in West Parley
Hip and ridge bedding, slipped tiles, lead flashings, valleys and felt flat roofs, repaired on bungalows, chalet bungalows and detached houses across West Parley.
The site visit is free and so is the written itemised quote. Thomas Hannen prices every job himself.
Last updated
Roof repairs, Parley Cross to Dudsbury
Mend the part that has failed and leave the rest
Yes, we repair roofs all over West Parley: a hip tile lifting at the corner of a bungalow, a cracked concrete tile, a tired flashing, a split felt roof on the garage. We trace the one place the water is getting in, fix that, and write down exactly what we did.
If rain is getting into a West Parley house as you read this, ring 07435 839745 and say which room it is dripping into. Our emergency roof repairs page covers what to do in the meantime.
A hip tile has shifted on the corner of the bungalow. There is broken mortar in the gutter below a gable. Or the ceiling of the back bedroom has a damp patch on it that darkens every wet week. Or the felt roof over the garage has started to hold a puddle.
Thomas Hannen walks round, goes up where safe and puts a torch into the loft. Each fault is photographed, and the free written quote covers what that fault needs.
The repairs on these roofs
Hips, valleys and the flat bits between them
West Parley is mostly post-war, and the busiest years for building were the late sixties and early seventies. More than a third of the homes, 36.4 per cent, are bungalows, and there is a big share of detached houses beside them. On a roof of that age the covering is most likely concrete interlocking tile over bitumen felt, with the ridge and hips set in sand and cement. Our roof repairs page sets out the method.
Hip tiles loose at the corners. A hipped bungalow has a hip running up from each corner, and the bottom tile on each one is the most exposed tile on the roof. Without a metal hip iron at the eaves corner, which some roofs of this age never had, that tile is held only by old mortar, which cracks and washes out until the tile rocks. We lift the loose run, clean off the old bedding, fit a new hip iron and re-bed each tile with a screw or clip through it. The other route is a dry hip system to BS 8612, with no mortar left to wash out. Four hips and a ridge on a bungalow is usually a day's work.
A single slipped or cracked tile. One tile sliding down the slope, usually off a rusted nail or a soft batten, leaves a gap you can see from the lawn. We lift the tiles above, fit a replacement of the same profile and hold it with a tile clip, the way BS 5534 expects today. An interlocking tile only seals when its side lock sits into its neighbours, so the profile has to match, reclaimed if it is no longer made.
Brittle felt at the eaves. On a roof laid around 1970, the strip of felt dipping into the gutter has had fifty summers of sun and cracks, so water drops behind the gutter onto the wall head. The repair is local: take off the bottom two or three courses, cut the felt back to sound, fit an eaves carrier tray, lap new membrane onto it and put the tiles back. Where the fascia under it has rotted, fascias, soffits and guttering in West Parley can be done on the same visit.
Chalet bungalow dormers. Water gets in at the dormer cheeks, the lead apron under the window and the soakers up each side. We lift the tiles alongside, renew the soakers and dress new lead over them.
Valleys where the extension joins. A later extension with its own pitched roof leaves a valley where the two roofs meet. Leaves pile up, water backs over the lining and runs in at the wall plate. We clear it and, if the lining has split, lift the tiles each side to lay new lead or a GRP valley trough.
Flat roofs on garages, porches and dormer tops. Felt of that era blisters, splits at the upstand against the wall and lets go at the edge trim. Ponding behind a sagging deck, or round an outlet that has lifted, is the warning sign. A split or blister on a dry, firm deck is cut out and patched; a deck that gives underfoot needs renewing, so see flat roofing in West Parley. On a block of flats, the landlord or management company arranges the repair, so tell them first.
After a gale. After a named storm, look at the edges: a broken tile, a missing tile on the hip line, a verge cap on the lawn. If the gap is letting water in, we put a temporary sheet over it, fixed so it cannot flap, and do the proper repair once the wind drops. If you are claiming on your buildings insurance, photograph it first. The claim turns on what the insurance industry means by a storm, and our written note of the cause can go with it.
The detached houses from the eighties onwards. These are usually concrete tile on trussed rafters, and many have plastic dry verge caps at the gables. The caps crack in the sun and blow off in a gale, and one missing cap leaves the end tile open. We replace the caps and refix any lifted tiles. Where there is a chimney, the flashing and the mortar crown on top are the usual leak, and our chimney repairs page covers the stack itself.
When a repair is the wrong answer. Bedding, verges, hip irons, flashings and a torn strip of felt at the eaves are all repairs. Felt that tears wherever it is touched across a whole slope is not, and a patch on it just moves the drip along. That roof has no real life left in it. At that point the job goes to our roofers in West Parley, and the quote tells you which one you are looking at.
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.
West Parley is under Dorset Council for planning. Mending a roof in the same materials is maintenance with no form to fill in, but if your house is listed, read the council's page on listed building consent before any material on it is changed.
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 West Parley that might be a hipped bungalow with its gutter at head height, a chalet bungalow whose valley sits behind a dormer, or a two storey detached house from the nineties with a chimney on the gable. 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. In a single storey West Parley bungalow the leak sits directly above the room it is dripping into, so if you can get to the loft hatch safely, a torch on the underside of the felt will usually show the wet track, and a photo of it helps us. 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.
Close to the Stour
Near the old church, match what is there
The West Parley Conservation Area is small, about five hectares at the south end of Church Lane, down by the river. It takes in the Church of All Saints and St Mark, which is Grade II*, and the Old Rectory, Grade II. A handful of other listed buildings sit elsewhere in the parish. Inside that boundary, or on a listed building, a repair uses the material already there: a matched or salvaged tile or slate, and the bedding and lead dressed the way they were. Changing the covering, or swapping a bedded ridge for a plastic dry-fix one you can see from the lane, is no longer plain upkeep. On a listed building, even a repair that changes materials can need consent from Dorset Council, so that gets checked before anything is ordered.
Everywhere else, the bungalow roads, Dudsbury and the newer detached houses, a like-for-like repair needs no application, and the Planning Portal guidance on roofs shows where that line falls. So find out which side of the boundary your address is on and mention it when you ring. If you are inside it, keep any old tiles that come off. They are the best match you will ever find.
Who you are dealing with
A local firm you can check
We cover the whole of West Parley and BH22, from Parley Cross and New Road down Church Lane to the river, and across to Dudsbury, from our base in Boscombe about 4.3 miles away. Dorset Council deals with planning and building regulations for the parish. 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 West Parley
Nearby places we also cover for roof repairs, with straight-line distances from West Parley, and the other trades we offer in West Parley itself.
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Our other trades in West Parley
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Questions
Questions about roof repairs in West Parley
Is it worth repairing a 1970s concrete tile roof?
Usually, yes. Concrete tiles of that age tend to outlast the mortar and the felt around them, and BRE's testing of sixty year old roof tiles backs that up. If the tiles are sound and the fault is at a hip, a verge or the eaves, a repair is the sensible spend. If the felt has failed across the whole roof, we will say so and price the re-roof separately.
Is my house in the West Parley conservation area?
Only if it is near the south end of Church Lane, around the church and the Old Rectory. The bungalow roads and Dudsbury are outside it. We check your address before quoting.
When in the year should a roof be repaired?
Mortar and lead are easiest to work in dry, mild weather, so late spring to early autumn suits planned jobs like re-bedding a hip. A leak does not wait for summer, though, and a slipped tile can be refixed in any dry spell. Nobody should be up in high wind or ice, as the HSE points out.
Who is responsible if a roofer falls while working on my roof?
On a homeowner's job the contractor takes on the duty to plan safe access and use it. The work at height rules set out what that means: edge protection, a roof ladder, a tower or scaffold chosen for the job. Our quote names the access on its own line, so you can see how the work at height is being handled.
How much will my roof repair cost?
It depends on access, what the fault turns out to be once opened, and the material needed to match it, so we visit first and give a free written quote, item by item. How we price a job explains what goes into it.
Free quote
Tell us what your West Parley roof is doing
Send your address and a photo from the garden or the loft. Thomas comes to look, finds the fault and puts the repair it needs in writing.