Roofing in Stourpaine
Roof repairs, chimney and valley leadwork, re-covers, flat roofs and gutters across Stourpaine and the DT11 villages. One contact, and every price itemised in writing.
The site visit is free and so is the written itemised quote. Thomas Hannen prices every job himself.
Last updated
Being in a conservation area does not stop you repairing your roof. Putting back what is already there is maintenance and needs no application at all. What needs permission is changing the look of the roof, and that is a much shorter list than most people in Stourpaine assume.
The three usual signs of trouble here are a stain that has appeared under a chimney breast, a tile or slate that has come off a steep old slope, and a roof that has quietly reached the end without anybody noticing. The last one usually turns up when a survey flags it during a sale. If that chimney breast stain has turned into water running down the wall, ring 07435 839745 before you do anything else.
We come out, get a proper look from a platform, put our head into the loft and photograph what is actually there. Then you are told which of those you have and what it will take to put right. Stourpaine is nineteen miles from our base in Boscombe, so we make the trip and look properly, because a photograph is no way to price a roof. If it is one slipped tile, a cracked slate or a single leak you are after, our page on roof repairs in Stourpaine covers those. The site visit and the written itemised quote are both free.
The work
It nearly always starts at the stack
Chimneys and the junctions round them. On these cottages the trouble more often starts at a stack than anywhere on the slope. The old brick chimneys are tall and exposed, and the flashing round them is often a cracked mortar fillet where there should be lead.
We cut in code rated lead flashings, soakers and back gutters, replace broken flaunching, and cap redundant stacks with a vent rather than sealing them, so the flue can breathe. Cottages here have grown in stages, and every stage added an abutment or a valley. One lined with anything other than lead is usually where the leak is.
Coverings, pitch and edges. The village runs to plain clay tile on the older cottages, natural slate on the Victorian work, and interlocking concrete tile on the later infill. A plain tile roof of that age is hung on nibs and pegs rather than nailed throughout. Several roofs in Stourpaine were thatched once and tiled afterwards. Thatch is laid at a steep pitch and not every covering that replaced it suits the slope, so where the pitch is marginal driven rain gets under the lap. That is a specification problem rather than a fault, and we will say so. On a modern roof we strip the cracked mortar bedding and convert to a dry fix system, dry ridge and dry verge screwed onto a ventilated roll, the mechanical fixing BS 5534 expects; on a sensitive roof in the conservation area the ridge is re-bedded in a lime rich mortar to match.
Older roofs in Stourpaine have battens straight over the felt with no sarking board behind, so a re-cover goes back on breathable membrane and treated battens after soft rafter feet come out. A steep roof throws a lot of water into a small gutter, so an undersized or sagging run overflows before it blocks. Leaf debris fills it anyway, so clearing the rainwater goods, gutters and downpipes both, saves the fascia and soffit behind them, and algae greens any slope that never dries. There is thatch in the village and we are not thatchers: we take the tiled roof beside it and the lead at the junction only. Insulation and eaves ventilation are far cheaper with the covering off, and Approved Document L sets the standard a renovated roof should reach.
How it runs
Pricing a roof in the Stour valley, from the ladder up
Ring and tell Thomas what the roof is doing and where the water shows inside. He drives up from Boscombe and prices it himself, from the ground, from a ladder at the eaves and from inside the loft, where daylight through a slipped tile or a stain on the old underlay tells its own story.
The written quote is itemised: scaffold or tower, stripping the covering, new battens and breathable membrane, the tiles or slates, lead flashings at the chimney and any abutment, the ridge, and disposal. One visit and one written quote cover all of it.
Lanes through Stourpaine are narrow and plenty of houses stand close to them, so where the scaffold goes and where a skip can sit are agreed before a date is booked. Loose material comes down a chute, never over the edge, and the ground is cleared at the end of each day. If the covering comes off and a rafter foot or the wall plate under it has rotted, Thomas takes a picture, prices the fix and waits for your go-ahead.
A repair, or re-covering in the same material, is maintenance within the limits in Planning Portal guidance. A different covering, or a rooflight or panels on a slope seen from the street, may need planning permission, and the village is in the Stourpaine Conservation Area, so ask Dorset Council first. On a listed building, listed building consent comes first. Dorset Council also handles building control.
Cost
Steep pitches, old timbers and narrow lanes
A steep old roof has no rate per square metre, because the area of the slope says little about the work. These are the things that move the figure on a Stourpaine roof.
How steep and how old. An older roof in Stourpaine is often steep. That sheds water well, but every batten line and every course takes longer, and the scaffold needs more lifts and a proper edge. An old roof may also have no underlay at all, or felt that has turned to dust at the eaves, and that decides whether you are paying for a repair or a strip and re-cover.
What the slope is covered in. Clay tiles, natural slate and concrete tiles strip and refix at different speeds, and reclaimed tiles to match an old roof have to be found before the job starts. Lead at the chimney and at any wall abutment is priced piece by piece.
Where the platform stands. A house tight to the lane needs the scaffold planned around the road and the neighbours' access, while one set back behind a garden may only need a tower. Work at height rules are why it is a line of its own.
Read any other quote with these in mind. Is the scaffold in the figure? Is the underlay being renewed with new battens, or patched? Who takes the old covering away?
If it is leaking now
Tiles off after a gale, or a drip in the bedroom
If water is coming in, ring rather than fill in the form. Put a bowl under it and move what you can. The first visit is about stopping the water: slipped tiles set back, a cracked one swapped, or a sheet fixed over battens so the wind cannot lift it.
A temporary cover like that changes nothing about how the house looks, so it needs no application, and the permanent repair is priced once the roof has dried out. Scheduled work runs Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm. If nobody picks up when you ring, we call you back as soon as we can.
Worth knowing
What the conservation area actually stops
Whether a conservation area covers your address in Stourpaine is worth checking with Dorset Council, and the single most useful thing we can tell you about that kind of designation is what it does not do. It does not stop you fixing a leak, re-fixing a slipped tile, re-bedding a ridge, renewing a gutter or stripping and re-covering in the same material. All of that is maintenance and no application is needed.
What it controls is appearance. A change of covering, panels or a rooflight on a slope that is visible from the road, and work that alters a chimney are the things that get looked at. Around two dozen entries in Stourpaine are listed as well, and those need consent whatever the work, however small.
We say this because people in Stourpaine put off repairs for a year on the assumption that the council has to be involved, and a year is exactly how long it takes a small leak to turn into new rafter feet and a new ceiling. Send the address with your enquiry, we will establish which of the three positions your house is in, and it will be on the quote in writing.
Who you are dealing with
A Boscombe firm that prices roofs north of Blandford
Stourpaine is nineteen miles from our base in Boscombe, up the Stour valley past Blandford. We price roofs in the village and in Durweston, Pimperne and the rest of DT11, all under Dorset Council for planning and building control.
The company is Bournemouth Roofing & Building Ltd, registered in England and Wales, company number 15471719. It is Thomas Hannen's own business, and he is the person who climbs the ladder and writes your price. A verified customer gave us 10 out of 10 on Checkatrade. Coming out costs nothing, and neither does the itemised written quote. Before you book a visit in Stourpaine, you can read our customers' Google reviews, word for word, on our reviews page.
Planning at a glance
Do you need planning permission in Stourpaine?
Most repairs in Stourpaine 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.
| Question | In Stourpaine |
|---|---|
| Who decides | Dorset Council is the planning authority for Stourpaine. Dorset Council's heritage pages set out what it controls. |
| Conservation area | Yes: Stourpaine Conservation Area. Check whether your street is inside the boundary before changing anything visible. |
| Listed buildings | Yes, there are listed buildings in and around Stourpaine. If yours is one, work can need listed building consent. |
| Protected landscape | Inside the Dorset National Landscape (formerly AONB), so anything visible from outside gets more attention. |
Questions
Questions about roofing in Stourpaine
Like for like in the conservation area, is that just maintenance?
In the main it is. Stourpaine Conservation Area controls appearance, so replacing what is there with the same thing, in the same colour and the same coursing, reads as repair, not change. It stops being maintenance the moment the material, the profile or the colour shifts, or a new opening appears in a visible slope. Dorset Council holds the boundary map and will say whether your address is inside it.
How do I find out whether my cottage is listed?
The list is public and Dorset Council will confirm it from your address in a phone call. There are 26 listed entries in and around Stourpaine, from the Church of St Nicholas to Durweston Bridge, and plenty of ordinary looking cottages sit on it. Listing is separate from the conservation area. One follows the building and the other follows the boundary, and many places here are under both.
The roof is seen from the hill above. Does that change anything?
It brings the finish into the argument. Stourpaine falls inside the Dorset landscape designation, where whatever is visible attracts design scrutiny, and a village roof read from higher ground is about as visible as roofs get. A tile that weathers in and lies flat photographs very differently from a glossy one. We would sooner agree a sample with the council than lay the same roof twice.
The leak is at the chimney flashing. Is that a stack job?
Not usually: most chimney leaks turn out to be the flashing, the soakers or the cement fillet round the base rather than the stack itself, and those are replaced without disturbing the brickwork. What forces the bigger job is spalling brick above the roof line and a pot that is no longer bedded, which you can often pick out from the ground on a clear day. We look before quoting either.
How many days does a small area of stripping take?
One slope on a cottage is normally two to four days on the roof, plus a day either side for the scaffold going up and coming down. Older roofs overrun more often than newer ones because what is under the covering stays unknown until it is off. If we find rotten rafter feet we stop, show you what we have found, and price that separately before going on.
Nearby, and next door
Roofing near Stourpaine
Nearby places we also cover for roofing, with straight-line distances from Stourpaine, and the other trades we offer in Stourpaine itself.
Roofing nearby
Our other trades in Stourpaine
Roofing guides
Concrete vs clay roof tiles: which is right? Planning, building regs or listed building consent Storm damage to a roof: the first 24 hoursEverything we do in Blandford Forum Roofing, all areas Every area we cover
Free quote
Get your Stourpaine roof priced properly
A free site visit and a written itemised quote you can compare line by line. Send the postcode and what you have noticed.