Roofing in Merritown
Repairs, edge work, re-covers and rainwater goods on the lanes around Merritown and Hurn, priced in writing after a proper look in the loft.
The site visit is free and so is the written itemised quote. Thomas Hannen prices every job himself.
Out here the roof and where its water ends up are one job. The ground around Merritown struggles to take a downpour, so a blocked downpipe does more harm than the slipped tile that started it.
Three calls come out of Merritown more than any others. Water has come through an upstairs ceiling after a wet week and nobody can say where it starts. The gutters have run over again despite being cleared in the autumn. Or a roof that nobody has touched since it went on is due an honest opinion on how much life is left in it.
We climb it, look at it again from inside the loft, take photographs, and trace the water from the ridge down to the gully it ought to be leaving by. Addresses here sit on their own, so the outbuildings get surveyed at the same visit rather than costing you a second one. Then you are told plainly which of three things this is: a fixing job, an edge job, or a covering that has run out of life. The site visit and the written quote are both free.
The work
Every downpipe wants a gully, not a splash pad
Every downpipe wants a gully. More of this here than anywhere. This ground sits in flood zone 2 with a high surface water risk and the Moors running under a kilometre away, so where the roof puts its water is not a detail. We re-fall the gutter, renew rainwater goods where the joints have had it, and see that each downpipe finishes in a gully rather than on a splash pad against the wall.
Ridge, hips and verges. Mortar bedding is the first thing to give out on an open plot, since weather picks at the edges and leaves the middle alone, and the exposed elevation here faces south west. Off it comes, and a dry fix system goes on: dry ridge onto a ventilated roll, dry verge units down the gable, screwed instead of stuck, which is the mechanical fixing BS 5534 asks for.
Most of what we lift here is concrete tile, much of it interlocking, with plain tile, clay tile and natural slate on the older cottages and farm buildings. We do not work on thatch and say so on the phone rather than waste your morning. Where thatch adjoins a tiled part we deal with that side, and the flashing along the join is the leak.
Where old felt laps into the gutter it goes brittle and splits, and that split is behind most of the wet fascia boards we cut out. Once the nails, battens and underlay have reached the end together, off comes the covering, soft timber comes out, and the new roof goes down on breathable membrane and treated battens. Garages, workshops and stables in felt, GRP fibreglass or EPDM rubber, deck priced before the covering is chosen. Lead flashing to the chimney and lined valleys in code rated sheet. With the roof open, insulation and eaves ventilation are cheap, and Approved Document L is the standard a renovated roof gets measured against.
How it runs
From your call to a written price
One person to ring and the same team from first visit to last. The quote itemises scaffold, the strip out, battens and membrane, the covering, each junction and disposal, so it compares properly against anyone else's. Nothing at Merritown falls inside a conservation area, so on an unlisted house a like for like re-cover, a repair, new rainwater goods or a rooflight is householder permitted development, so long as nothing rises more than 150mm off the roof plane, and the limits are set out in Planning Portal guidance. Three parish buildings are listed, and listed building consent covers everything done to those, so the address is checked before a price is written. Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council for both.
Cost
What decides the price of a roof
No rate per square metre. Merritown addresses sit off lanes and private drives, so the questions are whether a scaffold lorry can reach the elevation that needs it and whether there is firm standing for the base once the ground has had a wet fortnight. This is work at height and the work at height rules are why the platform is a priced line rather than an optional extra. Chimneys, valleys and abutments are priced one at a time. Ask whether the scaffold is in the price and who pays for the skip.
If it is leaking now
Water coming in today
Ring rather than use the form. Anything letting water in goes to the front of the queue and the first visit makes it safe and watertight. Look at the gutter above the wet patch and the gully under the downpipe, because on this ground an overflow gets in at the eaves far more often than a hole in the covering does. The phone is answered 24 hours for emergencies; scheduled work runs Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm.
Worth knowing
Where the roof water goes matters more here
Merritown sits in flood zone 2 and is rated high for surface water, and that is the one local fact that should change what you ask a roofer to do. You can have a perfect covering and still get water where you do not want it, because after a wet spell the ground has nothing left to take a downpour with.
So the rainwater side is priced as part of the roof rather than as an afterthought. The gutter is set to a proper fall rather than re-hung on the old brackets, outlets are renewed where they have gone brittle, and every downpipe finishes somewhere that actually takes water. A soakaway on saturated ground backs up and pushes water at the wall instead, so a positive outfall is usually the better answer. Worth checking your own address on the government flood risk service first, because it changes the order you do the work in.
Who you are dealing with
A local firm you can check
Under five miles from us, covering Merritown, Hurn and the surrounding BH23 addresses, with Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole 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.
Questions
Merritown questions we get asked
We are in flood zone 2. Does that affect roof work?
Not the covering, but it changes what happens to the water once it is off the roof. Merritown sits in flood zone 2 with a high surface water rating and the Moors runs about a kilometre away, so a downpipe feeding a soakaway that is already saturated simply backs up and spills at the wall. We look at where every downpipe ends before quoting, and will say if the answer is a proper drain connection.
How soon could somebody look at an active leak here?
Merritown is under five miles from us, so it is one of the closest calls we get and usually the same day or the next. The first visit is about stopping it, sheeting the slope or fitting a temporary cover, not about pricing. We come back and quote once it has dried out, because chasing a leak in driving rain shows you where the water lands rather than where it got in.
Water comes in around the rooflight rather than the tiles.
That is where it usually gets in around here. The most exposed elevation faces south west and driven rain works at openings and edges rather than the middle of a slope, so a rooflight upstand, a soil vent or a flashing takes the punishment first. The lead or the seal fails, the water tracks along a rafter and appears several feet from the actual hole. We test with a hose from the bottom upwards.
Does the council need telling before we re-cover out here?
For a like for like re-cover, no. There is no conservation area over Merritown and only three listed entries in the area, so most houses here are ordinary permitted development and Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole hear nothing about it. Building regulations can still apply where a large part of the covering is renewed, which is about insulation and the state of the structure rather than appearance, and we allow for it.
What do you actually look at in the loft?
The underside of the felt for daylight and tide marks, the tops of the rafters for dark staining, the nail heads for rust, and the wall plate where the roof sits down on the brickwork. Damp on one side of a chimney is usually flashing, and a dark line down a single rafter is usually a slipped tile above it. The photographs go out with the quote so you can see what we saw.
Nearby, and next door
Roofing near Merritown
Roofing nearby
Our other trades in Merritown
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Get your Merritown roof looked at properly
A free site visit, a look in the loft as well as on the roof, and an itemised written quote you can compare against anyone else's.