Roofing in Merley

Ridge, hip and verge need looking at first. Seventy seven per cent of Merley went up between 1945 and 1982, and nearly half of everything here in the 1970s and early 1980s, so these roofs are one cohort ageing together and the edges fail together.

Ridge and hip tiles on an estate house of that age are bedded in mortar, and mortar that has weathered since the houses went up cracks and lets the tiles rock. We take the lot off and convert to dry ridge and dry verge screwed onto a ventilated roll. BS 5534 is the code that calls for mechanical fixing at the edges, and the roll lets the roof space breathe along the ridge.

Gutters, fascias and soffits. A lot of Merley rainwater goods were clad or replaced once already, and uPVC screwed over rotten timber hides the problem instead of curing it, so we take a board off and look. Plenty of leaks that look like roof leaks are a gutter tipping water down the wall behind a fascia, or a downpipe emptying onto a path. On ground that shrinks and swells, where a downpipe finishes matters more than it looks.

Nearly every roof on the estates in Merley is concrete tile, most of it interlocking, and the tile is in better order than whatever is holding it down, so the culprit is a rusted nail, a lost clip or a junction. Along the older lanes towards Canford you get plain tile, clay tile and natural slate over felt with no sarking board. The bitumen felt underlay of the 1970s perishes where it laps into the gutter, the one place it has to be sound, so we check it from inside before anyone talks about a roof coming off.

When the nails have gone and the underlay tears as soon as it is touched, the covering comes off, wet timber is cut out, and it goes back on breathable membrane and treated battens with a matched tile. If what you have is one cracked tile, a rocking ridge cap or a drip by the garage wall, that sits on our page for roof repairs in Merley. The join where a garage roof runs into the main slope is where most flat roofs here let go, so the deck comes first. Cement smeared over a failed flashing is the bad repair to look out for on a roof here, and it goes back in code rated lead. With the covering off and the platform already paid for, insulation and eaves ventilation cost a fraction of what the same work costs as its own visit, and Approved Document L is the standard a renovated roof has to reach.

We do not work to a rate per square metre. Most of Merley went up within a few years of itself, so the price comes down to the shape of your roof, how it is reached, and what has happened under the tiles since.

Bungalow or two storey. Getting on for a third of the homes in Merley are bungalows. A long, low roof needs far less scaffold than a two storey detached house, and the verges can often be reached off a tower. The work at height rules are why the platform is a priced line, whatever its size.

Edges or the whole slope. On roofs of this generation the felt goes brittle at the eaves, and the mortar on the ridge and verges cracks long before the concrete tiles give up. BS 5534 now expects ridge and verge tiles to be mechanically fixed, so rebedding in mortar alone is not what we quote. A dry ridge and verge system is a different job from stripping a slope, and we tell you which your roof needs.

The awkward bits. Chimneys, valleys on L-shaped detached houses, and abutments where a garage or extension meets the main wall are priced one at a time, each with its lead flashing.

Access. Estate roads and drives mean no permit or road closure at most addresses, which keeps that line down.

With another roofer's price in front of you, ask whether the scaffold is included, whether the battens and membrane are renewed across the slope or only patched, and who pays for the skip.

About three quarters of the houses in Merley went up between the war and the early 1980s, most of them in one long build through the 1970s. Those roofs were tiled within a few years of each other, using the same mortar and the same nails, so they wear out together. That is why a run of streets starts shedding ridge mortar in the same couple of winters.

For a Merley owner that cuts both ways. A neighbour having the whole roof stripped is not evidence that yours is due: two houses built the same month can be years apart, depending on which slope catches the weather and whether anybody kept the gutters clear. And since the mortar and the fixings tire long before the tile does, the honest question on most Merley roofs is whether new edges will do instead. Have both priced on one sheet and decide with the figures in front of you.

Merley is 6.6 miles from our base on Wolverton Road in Boscombe. We cover the estates either side of the Wimborne Road, Oakley, Canford Magna and Bearwood, with Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council for planning and building control.

The company is Bournemouth Roofing & Building Ltd, registered in England and Wales, company number 15471719, and you can check it on Companies House. It is Thomas Hannen's business, and Thomas is the one who climbs up and prices your roof. A verified customer has given us 10 out of 10 on Checkatrade. The visit is free, and so is the written quote with each item listed. Before you book a visit in Merley, you can read our customers' Google reviews, word for word, on our reviews page.

Most repairs in Merley 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.