Roofing in Corfe Mullen

Dry ridge and verge. The commonest job in the village. Mortar bedding from the 1960s and 1970s cracks, washes out and lets wind under the edge of the covering. We replace it with a mechanically fixed system screwed onto a ventilated roll, which is what BS 5534 expects and vents the roof space along the ridge. Nearly two thirds of the housing here went up between 1945 and 1982, with a third of the whole village in the 1970s and early 1980s alone, so those edges are reaching the same age at the same time. A third of the homes are bungalows, which means a lot of metres of edge for the size of house.

Repairs run to slipped, cracked and missing tiles, rocking hip and ridge tiles, storm damage, and leaks traced back to where the water genuinely enters. Most of the housing carries concrete interlocking tile. In the old village there is plain clay tile and natural slate, plus the odd cob and thatch property we will point you elsewhere for. Sarking felt of this generation sags and tears where it laps into the gutter, which is the one place it must be sound, and that is the usual cause of a wet fascia. Underneath sit the battens and rafter feet, checked from inside before we recommend anything.

When nails, battens and membrane have gone together, the covering comes off, soft timber is replaced, and it goes back on breathable membrane and treated battens with a matched tile. We will tell you plainly when a covering has years left, which on this stock it usually does.

Garages, rear extensions and porches come in felt, GRP fibreglass or EPDM rubber, deck first then falls, upstands and outlet, with chimney flashings, soakers, valleys and abutments in code rated lead. Gutters and downpipes are worth more attention here than most places: on ground that shrinks and swells, a downpipe discharging beside a foundation is wetting and drying the ground next to the house, which is a structural nuisance rather than just a damp one. While the covering is off, insulation, eaves ventilation and condensation are far cheaper to deal with, and Approved Document L sets the standard a renovated roof is expected to reach.

No rate per square metre. The question is nearly always repair or re-cover. Dry fixing a ridge and verge run is priced by the metre of edge and is a fraction of a re-cover. Then which half of the village you are in: on the plateau access is generous and a lorry gets close, while in the old village frontages are tighter and where the scaffold and skip stand needs agreeing first. The work at height rules are why the platform is a priced line. A bungalow means more edge but a cheaper platform, and the survey settles which wins.

Corfe Mullen is two places that grew separately and still sit on different ground, about forty five metres apart vertically. The old village sits low on the river terrace near the Stour; the larger newer part sits on the plateau above it along Wareham Road.

That decides almost everything else. On the plateau it is post-war and 1970s estate housing, concrete tile, no designation, and the job is usually edge work. In the old village there is genuinely old fabric, a conservation area over it, and a matched repair in clay tile or slate with careful stripping. Same trade, two conversations, settled by the street name rather than the postcode.