Roofing and Building in Ringwood

Building work in Ringwood

Extensions, openings and new brickwork in Ringwood

Bournemouth Roofing & Building Ltd builds single storey extensions, opens up rooms with a steel beam, lays new brickwork and garden walls, and plasters, renders and roofs the work, across Ringwood and the BH24 villages. Thomas Hannen comes out, looks at the house and gives you a free written itemised quote.

Looking for a builder for the whole job? Builders in Ringwood sets out every trade we take on in Ringwood, how to choose a builder and how pricing works.

A rear extension runs in a set order. The foundations are dug and inspected, the blockwork goes up to plate height, the roof is framed and made weathertight, then comes first fix, plaster and the finish. A kitchen knock-through is quicker but just as structural: the steel is sized from an engineer's calculation, it sits on padstones, and the wall above is propped while the opening is cut. The project gallery has photographs of both stages.

The same visit covers the smaller building jobs: a garden wall or garage in brick to match the house, plastering and rendering to finish, roof water taken to a soakaway or a drain, a new driveway, and kitchen fitting once the room is dry.

Before anything is built

Three things get settled first. Is it permitted development, or does it need a planning application? The householder permitted development rules set the limits. Which building regulations route suits it, a building notice or full plans? And does it touch a party wall? On a semi or a terrace you will usually owe your neighbour a party wall notice. Building control inspects the foundations, drainage and structure, then issues a completion certificate. Keep it, because a buyer's solicitor will ask for it.

The Ringwood check

Ringwood is in Hampshire, so New Forest District Council decides planning, and the Ringwood Conservation Area covers the town centre, which narrows what you can change on a street-facing wall. The National Park boundary runs along the east of the town. The centre and most of Poulner and Hightown sit outside it. Burley, Hangersley and parts of Crow are inside, where the National Park Authority decides. Look your address up on the Park's property map before you pay for drawings.

Roofing is still the core trade. For repairs, re-roofs and flat roofs, see the page for roofers in Ringwood.

Around the house

Walls, garages, drainage and structural repairs

Garden walls, garages, drainage and structural repairs are the other half of building work in Ringwood, and each has one rule or check that decides how it is built. Thomas sorts those out at the site visit, so the quote covers the job the house actually needs.

Garden and boundary walls

A garden wall is a small building. It needs a footing dug down to firm ground, a damp-proof course a couple of courses up, piers or returns so it cannot lean, and a coping that throws rain clear of the face. Next to a road you can usually build to about a metre without planning permission, and to two metres elsewhere, as the Planning Portal guide to garden walls explains. A wall holding back soil is a retaining wall and gets designed as one. On the older streets we match the brick, the bond and the mortar colour so the new wall does not look new.

Trees near the new work

Mature trees stand close to a lot of Ringwood houses. Roots can decide how deep a footing for an extension or a wall has to go, so we note every tree near the new work and the depth is set by the engineer or the building control inspector. In the conservation area most trees are protected even without a preservation order. You have to give the council six weeks' notice before cutting down or pruning one, under section 211 of the Town and Country Planning Act. If a tree is in the way of the build, that notice goes in before the digger is booked.

Garages and garden rooms

Turning an integral garage into a room rarely needs planning permission, but it does need building regulations approval, through a building notice or full plans: a wall and window where the door was, a floor raised and insulated, and the room brought up to fire and ventilation standards. A new detached garage or garden room is often permitted development if it sits behind the house and stays low. Some estates had those rights taken away by a condition when the houses were built, so we check the planning history first.

Drainage, soakaways and the Avon

Roof water from a new extension has to go somewhere. Approved Document H puts a soakaway first where the ground will take it, so we dig a trial hole and test it before designing round one. If it fails, the water goes to a surface water drain. The low ground along the Avon on the west side of the town is in flood zones 2 and 3. An extension there that needs planning permission also needs a flood risk assessment, and for a small one the Environment Agency's standing advice sets out what it covers, mainly floor levels and flood resistant construction. Check the address before anything is drawn.

Cracks and structural repairs

A crack that is wider at the top than the bottom, or runs through the bricks instead of along the joints, gets a structural engineer before it gets filler. A failed lintel over a bay, a bulging wall, or a sagging opening where a wall came out without a beam can all be put right, once the cause is fixed.

On the forest edge the roof has its own list, mostly leaves packing the valleys and moss on shaded slopes. That work is on the pages for roof repairs in Ringwood and roof cleaning and moss removal in Ringwood.