Roofing in Oakdale

Tile repairs. Most roof repair work in Oakdale is on tiles rather than slate, which is less common on these streets. Many of the 1930s houses were first roofed in clay plain tile, and plenty were re-covered later in concrete interlocking tile.

Clay plain tiles on Oakdale roofs hang on nibs and are nailed every few courses, so when the nails rust or a nib snaps a tile slides out, and after storm damage you can often see the missing tile from the garden. We slide in a matched clay tile and fix it. Concrete tiles are heavier and tougher, but they lose their surface with age and the bottom edges soften. We match the profile and the colour, because a bright new tile in the middle of a weathered slope stands out from the street.

Hips and ridges. A hipped roof has more ridge line than a gable, and on older roofs those hip and ridge tiles sit in mortar alone. Once the mortar cracks, the wind lifts them. We take them off, clean them and put them back with a dry fix system, fixed mechanically in line with BS 5534, with a hip iron at the foot of each hip. Where a house or a chalet bungalow has a gable instead, the verge gets the same treatment, with dry verge units in place of the old mortar. That is usually a day on a semi or a bungalow, and it stops the same tiles coming off in the next gale.

Chimneys and flashings. Most 1930s semis in Oakdale have a stack on the party wall between the two halves, and a lot of the leaks we trace start there, where the lead meets the brick. We check the step flashings, the back gutter behind the stack and the pointing, and replace worn lead with code rated lead sheet dressed into the joints. If the stack is no longer used, taking it down below the roof line is an option we will price, but it is a shared structure, so your neighbour has a say.

Re-roofing. When too many tiles are going, patching stops being good value. We strip to the rafters, check the timbers, and go back on breathable membrane and new treated battens. The old bitumen felt under Oakdale roofs has usually rotted at the eaves, which is where the water gets in. A semi or a bungalow is typically a week or so once the scaffold is up, depending on the weather and on how much timber needs replacing.

Bays and porches. The front bays on the 1930s Oakdale houses carry their own small roof, tiled or covered in lead or felt, and they are often forgotten until the bay ceiling stains. They are easy to put right while a scaffold is up for something else.

Moss, gutters and the eaves. Concrete tiles hold moss and algae, and every heavy shower washes some of it into the gutter. While we are up, clearing the moss by hand and lifting the debris out of the gutter and the top of each downpipe takes little extra time, and we look at the fascia and soffit boards too, because rot at the eaves often starts behind a blocked gutter.

When we would talk you out of it. A roof with a few slipped tiles, a loose ridge and sound timbers does not need replacing. Nor does a roof covered in moss, which looks worse than it is. We would rather fix what is wrong and tell you what to watch for. A single slipped tile, a loose hip or a drip you want traced is covered on our page for roof repairs in Oakdale.

No rate per square metre, because the square metres are the easiest thing to measure and the least useful thing to know.

Getting to it. A 1930s semi on Tatnam Road, a hipped bungalow set back behind its front garden and a block of flats on a main road with cars parked along the front need three different scaffolds. Some roofs come off a tower, most want a scaffold, and how long it stands matters as much as its size. This is work at height and the work at height rules are why the platform is a priced line rather than an optional extra.

Junctions and substrate. Chimneys, valleys and abutments are priced one at a time, because that is where the leadwork hours go. Battens, membrane and fixings are the part nobody sees and the part that decides what a re-cover costs.

Comparing quotes? Ask whether the scaffold is in the price, whether battens and membrane are renewed or covered over, what grade of lead is going on the chimney, and who pays for the skip.

We cover Oakdale and the rest of BH15, from Fleetsbridge down Wimborne Road to Poole town centre, and across to Creekmoor, Canford Heath and Parkstone. BCP Council is the planning and building control authority, and our base in Boscombe is about six miles away.

You are dealing with Bournemouth Roofing & Building, the trading name of 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. Before you book a visit in Oakdale, you can read our customers' Google reviews, word for word, on our reviews page.

Most repairs in Oakdale 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.