Roofing in Lymington

Ridge, hips and verges. The commonest job in town, because this is where an exposed roof lets go. The mortar bedding cracks, the tile begins to rock, and the next blow takes it. We strip the bedding and convert to a dry fix system, dry ridge and dry verge screwed down onto a vented roll, which is the mechanical fixing BS 5534 expects and which stops the detail that keeps failing from being rebuilt in the same material. It is measured by the metre of edge. Nearly half the housing went up between 1945 and 1982 and another quarter in the years after, so the bulk of the stock is concrete tile, most of it interlocking. The older properties in towards the quay carry plain tile, clay tile and natural slate on battens over felt with no sarking board behind them, and there is no stone slate anywhere in the New Forest.

Fixings, which matter more here. A galvanised nail two streets from salt water does not last what it would last inland. We use stainless where the exposure calls for it, and on a windward slope we clip every tile rather than every third or fifth. It is a small line on a quote and the difference between a roof that holds and one you are calling us back to. When the nails have rusted through, the batten ends have softened and the underlay tears the moment it is touched, patching stops being worth paying for: the covering comes off, soft rafter feet and wet timber are replaced, and it goes back on breathable membrane and treated battens with a matched tile. Driven rain pushes water uphill, so a lap that would be fine in a sheltered village leaks here, which is why chimney flashings, soakers, valleys and the abutment where a rear extension meets the main roof go in code rated lead cut so it can move.

Rear extensions, garages, dormers and balconies in felt, GRP fibreglass or EPDM rubber. The deck gets looked at first, and because wind lifts a flat roof at its perimeter rather than its middle, the trim and the way the covering is turned and held down are worth more attention than the field of it. A fair share of the roof leaks we attend turn out to be rainwater goods rather than roof, and better than a fifth of the housing here is terraced, so a gutter run crosses more than one house: a blockage over your neighbour shows up in your ceiling, and the job needs both of you told before we start. Shaded slopes hold moss and algae and what washes off packs into the gutter below, so clearing it is ordinary maintenance. With the covering off, insulation and eaves ventilation are far cheaper to sort, and Approved Document L sets the standard a renovated roof is expected to reach.

Access is the line that moves most in Lymington. An estate house has a drive and room for a scaffold. A terrace in the old streets has no side access at all, so material goes through the house or over the roof, and a platform standing on the pavement needs a licence from the highway authority. How long it stands matters as much as its size, and the work at height rules are why it is a line of its own rather than an optional extra. Ask whether the scaffold is in the quote, whether battens and membrane are renewed, and who takes the old tiles away.

The most exposed elevation of a Lymington house faces south west, into open water and a long fetch, and there is nothing between the two. That single fact decides three things about your roof.

It goes at the edges. Wind does not peel a slope from the middle, it gets under a verge, a ridge or an eaves course and works from there, which is why edge work buys more here than the same money spent anywhere else on the roof.

It wants a fixing specification rather than a default, because BS 5534 sets fixings by exposure and a roof within reach of salt air is not the same job as one four miles inland. And driven rain travels uphill, so underlay laps, eaves detail and lead sizes want setting for the exposure they are actually in.

If a quote for a Lymington roof does not say what the tiles are fixed with, ask before you sign it.

About fifteen miles from us, covering Lymington, Pennington, Boldre and the SO41 addresses down towards the quay, with New Forest District Council for planning and building control. 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.