Roofing in Stone

Flat roofs first. A bigger part of the work here than in most villages, because a third of the dwellings are flats or maisonettes and blocks bring flat roofs over walkways, bin stores, garages, porches and rear extensions. Felt, GRP fibreglass and EPDM rubber all last when the deck under them is sound and the falls, upstands and outlet are right. Nearly every failure we are called to is one of three things: 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 rather than patched where the stain shows. Most of what is up there is concrete interlocking tile from the seventies and eighties, with plain clay tile and natural slate on the older property out towards Pamphill, and 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 on a long block that is a lot of edge for one job, so it is worth doing the whole run at once. We convert to a dry fix system, dry ridge and dry verge screwed onto a ventilated roll, the mechanical fixing BS 5534 expects.

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. Roofs of this generation carry no sarking board, so the underlay does all of the work behind the tile. On a block the lead is more often the parapet and the abutment against a stair tower than a chimney, and those are the junctions that empty a service charge if they are ignored. There are thatched roofs in the older part of the parish and we do not work on them. A shared gutter serving several homes fails for everybody at once, and one blocked downpipe backs up the whole run. 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.

No rate per square metre. A house here is straightforward. A block is not, because the platform has to stand on shared ground, keep a way in and out clear for everybody living there, and often stay up longer because there is simply more roof. Who is instructing matters too, since on a block the freeholder pays out of the service charge. Because this is work at height work at height rules make the platform a priced line. Comparing quotes, ask whether the scaffold is in the price, whether battens and membrane are renewed or covered over, and who pays for the skip.

If you own or rent a flat or a maisonette, the outside of the building, roof and walls alike, almost always belongs to the freeholder and is maintained out of the service charge. You can report a leak. You usually cannot instruct the repair, and paying for it yourself can leave you out of pocket with no way to recover it.

There is a second step people do not expect. Where the work is large enough to cross a low statutory threshold per leaseholder, section 20 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 obliges the landlord to consult before it starts, which means notices, a period for observations and estimates put to the leaseholders. That is weeks, not days, and it is why a block roof takes so much longer to get going than the same roof on a house.

In practice: report it in writing, ask the agent for the reference, and get a date for the making safe as well as the repair. We quote to freeholders and agents as readily as to homeowners, and itemise it the same way so leaseholders can see what they are paying for.

About eight miles from us, covering Stone, Pamphill, Cowgrove and the BH21 addresses west of Wimborne. 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.