Roofing in Stone

The flat roofs. Old cottages in Stone rarely stay the size they were built, so a good many carry a flat roof over a back kitchen, a bathroom, a porch or a garage. Felt, GRP fibreglass and EPDM rubber all last when the deck under them is sound and the falls, upstands and outlet are right.

When one fails the cause is nearly always a soft deck nobody checked, an upstand too low where the covering meets a wall, or a single outlet that silts up and ponds the roof. We cut a piece out and look at the deck before quoting a covering, every time.

The pitched roofs. Slipped, cracked and missing tile work, storm damage, and a leak traced back to where water genuinely enters, not patched where the stain shows. The cottages are mostly plain clay tile or natural slate on cut timber, the later houses and bungalows at the Wimborne end carry concrete interlocking tile, and there is no stone slate on this side of the county. On interlocking concrete the tile outlives what holds it down, so the fault is generally a nail, a clip, a batten end or a junction. Mortar bedding cracks, ridge tiles start to rock and a verge loses its bedding along a gable, and where a pair of cottages sits under one ridge it is worth doing the whole run at once. On the later houses we convert to a dry fix system, dry ridge and dry verge screwed onto a ventilated roll, the mechanical fixing BS 5534 expects. On a listed cottage a plastic ridge would change its look, so there the ridge is bedded in lime with each tile fixed as well, and the detail is agreed with Dorset Council first.

When the nails have rusted through and the felt tears at a touch, the covering comes off, wet timber goes with it, and the roof goes back on breathable membrane and treated battens. The later roofs carry no sarking board, so the underlay does all of the work behind the tile. On a cottage the lead that matters is round the big brick stacks and where a lean-to meets the main wall, and those two junctions let in more water on an old roof than any slope does. If all you have is one slipped slate, a lifted flashing or a drip you want traced, that sits on our page for roof repairs in Stone. There are thatched roofs in the older part of Stone and we do not work on them. Where two cottages share a gutter run, one blocked downpipe backs up both houses. With the covering off, insulation and eaves ventilation cost far less to put right, and Approved Document L sets the standard a renovated roof is expected to reach.

Whether it is listed. On a listed cottage the materials have to match: clay tile or natural slate to suit what is there, lime mortar, and lead dressed by hand. Dorset Council may want a drawing or a method statement before work starts. That takes longer and costs more than a like for like re-cover on a later house, and our quote is laid out so a landlord or an agent can check it line by line.

The size of the platform. A tall cottage stack or a steep gable in Stone needs more scaffold than a bungalow does, and a house tight to the road needs its layout agreed first. A bungalow is quicker to get onto. Work at height rules make the platform a line of its own.

The age of the roof. The later houses in Stone have concrete interlocking tiles on trussed rafters and a felt that may be near the end of its life. The cottages have clay tiles or slate on cut timber, and repairs there have to match what is on the roof.

What turns up underneath. Battens gone soft at the eaves, a valley lined with failing lead, or a chimney whose flashing has lifted. Thomas checks from the loft before pricing, so the quote says what is being renewed and what is staying.

Ask any competing firm whether the scaffold is included, whether the battens and membrane are new or covered over, and who pays for the skip.

Several of the cottages and houses along the Blandford Road at Stone are on the national list, and the estate villages round Pamphill carry many more. On a listed roof, a repair that matches what is there needs no consent. Changing the covering, the ridge detail or a chimney usually does, and work done without it can leave the owner facing an enforcement notice.

So before we price a cottage in Stone we find out whether it is listed and what is original. Handmade clay tile and old slate are saved and put back wherever they are sound, the shortfall is made up with reclaimed to match, and mortar that shows is lime. If consent is needed, that adds weeks to the start, so it is worth asking early, even for what looks like a small job.

If you rent your cottage in Stone, the roof is almost always the landlord's to repair. Report it in writing, keep a copy, and ask for a date for the making safe as well as the repair. We quote landlords and estate managers as readily as owners, and itemise it the same way.

Stone is about nine miles from our base in Boscombe. We cover Stone, Pamphill, Cowgrove and the BH21 addresses west of Wimborne, and Dorset Council is the council for all of them. The company is Bournemouth Roofing & Building Ltd, registered in England and Wales, company number 15471719. Before you book a visit in Stone, you can read our customers' Google reviews, word for word, on our reviews page.

It is Thomas Hannen's business, and Thomas gets on the roof and prices the job himself, whether you own the cottage or look after it for a landlord. A verified customer gave us 10 out of 10 on Checkatrade. You pay nothing for the visit or for the written quote, which lists every item.

Most repairs in Stone 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.