Roofing in Minstead

Storm and tree damage. The commonest emergency out here, and it behaves differently from ordinary wind damage. Mature oak and beech stand close to the houses, and what comes down is heavy and lands in one place, so instead of a scatter of slipped tiles you get a hole, a cracked rafter and sometimes a punctured flat roof over an addition. We sheet the opening, prop where the timber has gone and come back to the permanent repair once the whole of it can be seen.

Old plain tile and slate, relaid. Small plain clay tile hung on nibs and pegs, and natural slate, both on steep pitches. When they fail it is the nails, the pegs and the batten rather than the covering, so we strip, hand sort, keep the sound tile and re-lay it on treated battens over a breathable membrane, buying matched tile only for the shortfall. Torching made good where it survives. Inside the Forest Central (South) conservation area what goes back has to look like what came off, which is why the sorting is worth the hours.

Chimney flashings, soakers, back gutters, swept valleys and the abutments where a catslide or a dormer cheek runs into a wall, all in code rated lead cut into lengths that can move without splitting. Cottage roofs carry a lot of junction for their footprint, and mastic over a failed flashing buys a season. Perished felt tears where it laps into the gutter, and under deep shade the batten ends and rafter feet go soft first, so we check that from inside before we say anything about what you can see from the drive.

On the newer houses the mortar bedding cracks at the ridge and gable long before anything happens mid slope, and a dry fix ridge screwed over a ventilated roll is the mechanical fixing BS 5534 expects. On an older cottage we check whether a visible dry verge is acceptable here before specifying one. Rear additions, garages, porches and dormer tops in felt, GRP fibreglass or EPDM rubber, deck first, and a flat roof under trees wants its outlet checked twice a year. Deep overhangs and cast iron rainwater goods are common here, and cast iron is usually worth repairing and repainting rather than swapping for plastic. Deep shade also means heavy moss and lichen holding water against the covering. Insulation and eaves ventilation are far cheaper to sort while the roof is open, and Approved Document L sets the standard a renovated roof must reach.

No rate per square metre. Lanes here are narrow with open unfenced verges you cannot simply park a lorry on, and drives are often gravel, so where the scaffold and the skip stand is agreed with you before anything is priced. Steep pitches change the platform too, because work at height on a steep slope means proper edge protection rather than a ladder and optimism. The work at height rules are why the platform is a priced line. Chimneys, valleys and abutments are priced one at a time. Ask whether the scaffold is in the price and who pays for the skip.

The cheapest time to do anything with a loft is while the covering is off and the access is already paid for. Insulation and ventilation are simple and we will always raise them. Turning the loft into a room is not simple here, and that is worth knowing early rather than late.

Minstead falls in the Solent nutrient neutrality catchment. It has nothing to do with a re-roof, a repair or new rainwater goods, and everything to do with a scheme that adds overnight accommodation. So a loft conversion that creates a bedroom is a planning application with a mitigation question attached, on a timescale measured in months, while the roof work itself is measured in days.

People find this out after the scaffold is up and then want to hold the job open while it is sorted, which costs more than doing it in the right order. If a room in the roof is anywhere in your thinking, tell us at the survey and ask the Park Authority before we start.