Roofers in Lymington

Roof repairs in Lymington mostly come down to the edges and the fixings. Ridges, hips and verges bedded in mortar crack and rock loose, one slipped tile or slate lets driven rain in, and nails within reach of salt air rust sooner than they would inland. We fix what has failed, and say plainly when patching has stopped paying.

Slipped tiles and slates. A slipped slate goes back on a copper or lead tingle hooked over the batten, so the course above does not have to come up. A cracked concrete or clay tile is swapped for one that matches its size, profile and colour. When several have slid on one slope the nails have usually gone, so we check the rest before pricing one.

Ridge, hips and verges. Mortar bedding is the first thing to let go on an exposed roof. We strip it and fit dry ridge and dry verge, screwed down over a vented roll, which is the mechanical fixing BS 5534 expects. It is priced by the metre of edge, and one gable can be done on its own.

Re-roofing. Nearly half the housing here went up between 1945 and 1982, so most roofs carry concrete tile, largely interlocking, over felt that is now past it. When the nails have rusted through, the batten ends are soft and the underlay tears as you touch it, the covering comes off. Soft rafter feet are replaced, and it goes back on breathable membrane and treated battens, with stainless fixings and every tile clipped on a windward slope. If the tiles are sound and only a ridge or one valley is failing, we will talk you out of a new roof. For a single cracked tile, a loose ridge cap or one leak to trace, our page on roof repairs in Lymington covers the repair on its own.

Flat roofs. Rear extensions, garages, dormer tops and balconies in felt, GRP fibreglass or EPDM rubber single ply. The deck is checked first, then the falls to the outlet and the upstands. Wind lifts a flat roof at its perimeter, so the trim and the way the covering is turned and held down matter more than the middle of it.

Lead and chimneys. Chimney flashings, soakers, valleys, dormer cheeks and the abutment where a rear extension meets the house, all in code rated lead cut in lengths that can move. On the stack, cracked flaunching is re-made, loose pots are re-set or capped, open joints are repointed, and a chimney you no longer use can come down below the roofline and be tiled over.

Rooflights, roofline and moss. A leaking VELUX or older rooflight is often the flashing kit and not the glass, and it can be reflashed or replaced in the same opening. Fascias, soffits, gutters and downpipes get looked at on every visit, because on a terrace a run blocked over next door can show up in your ceiling. Moss and algae on a shaded slope wash into that gutter, so clearing them is ordinary upkeep. With the covering off, insulation and eaves ventilation are far cheaper to sort, and Approved Document L sets the standard a renovated roof has to reach.

A roofing price in Lymington is set mostly by what sits under the tiles and where the scaffold can stand. That is why nobody can give you an honest figure per square metre over the phone.

What is on it now. A post-war semi or an eighties detached usually carries concrete interlocking tiles. They are heavy and often still sound, while the felt under them has perished. The older terraces and town centre streets have clay plain tiles or natural slate, which take longer to strip and set back and cost more to match.

Underneath the covering. Whether the battens and underlay need renewing, and how many rafter feet have gone soft at the eaves, moves the price more than the area does. Fixings follow BS 5534, and on the exposed slopes the verges and ridge are fixed mechanically, not bedded in mortar alone.

Where the scaffold can stand. A bungalow needs a lower scaffold but a longer run of it. A terrace with no side access means material goes through the house or over the roof, and scaffold on the pavement needs a licence. The work at height rules make the platform a line of its own.

Before you sign anyone's quote, ask whether the battens and membrane are being renewed or only the tiles, whether the scaffold and its licence are included, what the tiles will be fixed with, and who takes the old tiles away.

Town centre roofs in Lymington are repaired like for like, slope by slope, because one building can carry two coverings. No 129 High Street, listed grade II, has a slate roof to the street and a tiled roof on its long rear range, according to its list entry. Each slope gets its own material back.

On handmade clay or natural slate, a sound roof is not stripped for the sake of it. Failed nails are replaced with copper or galvanised ones, slipped slates go back on tingles, and new clay tiles are matched in texture, colour, size and depth. The National Park heritage and conservation guidance asks for the same, and although Lymington is outside the Park its older roofs were built the same way.

The Lymington Conservation Area covers the historic town centre. Like for like is maintenance, but a change of material there should be checked with New Forest District Council first, and a listed building needs consent whatever goes back on. We check your address before quoting.

Lymington is 12.5 miles from our base on Wolverton Road in Boscombe. We cover the town from the quay and the High Street out to Pennington, Woodside and Buckland, across the river to Walhampton, and on to Boldre.

The company is Bournemouth Roofing & Building Ltd, registered in England and Wales. It is Thomas Hannen's business, and he goes up to look at your roof and prices it himself. A verified customer has given us 10 out of 10 on Checkatrade. The site visit and the written, itemised quote cost you nothing. Before you book a visit in Lymington, you can read our customers' Google reviews, word for word, on our reviews page.

How to check any roofer, us included. Look the firm up on Companies House: ours is company number 15471719, and it shows who runs it. Get the quote in writing with every item listed. Be wary of anyone who knocks on the door after a storm, points at damage you cannot see for yourself, or wants to start there and then with money up front.

Most repairs in Lymington 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.