Roofing in Branksome

Clay plain tiles on the Edwardian houses. A good share of Branksome was built before the First World War, and many of those houses carry small clay plain tiles, double lapped and hung on nibs. They last for generations, but the nails and nibs do not.

On a Branksome roof, a tile that has slipped or laminated is lifted out and replaced with a matched reclaimed one, and where a whole slope has gone brittle we strip it, set aside every sound tile and make up the shortfall with a new clay tile of the same size and colour.

Concrete interlocking tiles. The inter-war and post-war semis and bungalows are mostly concrete interlocking tile. These fail at the edges: a verge where the mortar has dropped out, a ridge or hip that rocks under a foot, an eaves course that has lost its clip. We re-bed ridges or fit a dry ridge and dry verge system in line with BS 5534, which now expects mechanical fixing rather than mortar alone. A ridge and verge job on a semi is often a day or two once access is in place.

Slate on the older terraces and villas. Where natural slate turns up in Branksome, usually on the earliest houses, the problem is nail fatigue. Slates slide a course at a time. We refix singles with copper tingles and talk about a strip and relay only when patching has stopped being honest.

Re-roofing. A full re-roof means stripping to the rafters, replacing any soft timber, then a breathable membrane, new treated battens and the covering, with lead flashings and soakers renewed at every chimney and abutment. A straightforward pitched roof is usually a week or so once the scaffold is up. A hipped Edwardian roof with bays and a tile hung gable takes longer.

Blocks and flat sections. The 1960s and 70s blocks often have shallow pitched concrete roofs or flat roofs behind a parapet. There we look at the outlets, the lead or felt upstands and the copings as closely as the covering. For the flat parts see flat roofing in Branksome.

Gutters and the eaves. Plenty of roof leaks in Branksome turn out to be rainwater problems: a gutter full of debris, a downpipe blocked at the shoe, or a soft fascia letting the gutter drop. We check those from the scaffold while it is up, and clearing them is often the cheapest fix on the quote.

When we would talk you out of it. Moss and algae on a Branksome concrete roof look bad and rarely let water in by themselves. A clay roof with a handful of broken tiles and sound battens needs repairing, not replacing, and we will say so. A single cracked tile, a leaking valley or a stack letting water in is covered on our page for roof repairs in Branksome.

No rate per square metre, because the square metres are the easiest thing to measure and the least useful thing to know.

Getting to it. A detached Edwardian house near County Gates with a tile hung gable, a semi by the recreation ground with a side path for a tower, and a block on Poole Road where the scaffold stands on the pavement under a council highway licence are three different set ups. Some roofs come off a tower, most want a scaffold, and how long it stands matters as much as its size. This is work at height and the work at height rules are why the platform is a priced line rather than an optional extra.

Junctions and substrate. Chimneys, valleys and abutments are priced one at a time, because that is where the leadwork hours go. Battens, membrane and fixings are the part nobody sees and the part that decides what a re-cover costs.

Comparing quotes? Ask whether the scaffold is in the price, whether battens and membrane are renewed or covered over, what grade of lead is going on the chimney, and who pays for the skip.

We cover Branksome and BH12, from County Gates and the Brunstead Road area along Poole Road to the station and up towards Alder Road, along with Westbourne and Parkstone next door. BCP Council deals with planning and building control, and we are based in Boscombe.

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. Before you book a visit in Branksome, you can read our customers' Google reviews, word for word, on our reviews page.

Most repairs in Branksome need no application at all. What decides whether a change to the outside of your house does is who the council is, whether a conservation area or a listing applies, and whether the place sits in a protected landscape.