Roofing in East Boldre

Ridge, hip and verge. The commonest job on plots this exposed. Wind rarely takes a roof out of the middle; it works at the edges, so mortar bedding cracks and a verge loses its bedding while the field of the roof is still sound. We strip that off and convert to dry ridge and dry verge screwed onto a ventilated roll, the mechanical fixing BS 5534 expects, which vents the roof space along the ridge at the same time. Older cottages along the lanes carry plain clay tile and natural slate on battens; later houses are concrete interlocking tile, and there is no stone slate out here.

Thatch, and what we do instead. Some roofs here are thatched and some are half thatched with a tiled rear addition. We are not thatchers and will not pretend otherwise. What we take on is the tiled or slated part and the junction between the two, which is a leadwork detail and where those roofs usually leak.

When the nails have rusted through and the old felt underlay comes apart in your hand, everything comes off, rotten rafter feet are renewed, and the slope is relaid over breathable membrane on treated battens with the fixings specified for how exposed the plot is. Oak and holly over the lane means leaf litter every autumn, so clearing the debris out of the gutter runs is annual work, and a fair share of the leaks we attend turn out to be a gutter running over. What matters more here than in a town is the bottom of the downpipe: the ground holds water and moves with it, so a downpipe emptying beside a wall is a structural question rather than a damp one, and Approved Document H is the standard for getting that water away. While the slope is stripped, insulation and eaves ventilation cost a good deal less, and Approved Document L is the standard a renovated roof is expected to meet.

No rate per square metre. Plots out here are usually open with room for a scaffold or a tower, which helps. The lanes are narrow and commoners' stock roams the open forest, so the skip and the tile stacks have to be sited and closed off properly rather than left on the verge. How long a platform stands matters as much as its size, and the work at height rules are why it is a priced line. Chimneys, valleys and abutments are priced one at a time. Ask whether the scaffold is in the price and whether battens and membrane are renewed or covered over.

East Boldre sits inside the New Forest National Park, and the National Park Authority is the local planning authority for it. People ring the district council, get told it is not theirs, and lose a fortnight. The whole village also falls inside the Forest South East Conservation Area, and eight entries in the parish are listed.

None of that stops a roof being repaired. What a conservation area controls is appearance, so putting the same covering back is maintenance, while changing a slate or clay tile roof to concrete tile because it quoted cheaper is the version that gets stopped. Anything that alters what the roof looks like from the lane, a rooflight on a front slope especially, is worth checking first, and National Park heritage and conservation guidance sets out how the Authority looks at that.

A listed cottage needs consent for the work itself, repairs included. Send us the address and we check it on the interactive property map before anything is priced.

About nineteen miles from us, covering East Boldre, Norleywood and the SO42 addresses between Beaulieu and the Solent shore, with the New Forest National Park Authority for planning. 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.