Roofing in Three Legged Cross

Eaves, felt and the gutter. The weakest point on the estates in Three Legged Cross and the last one anybody notices, because it does not show inside. On post-war roofs like these, the bitumen underlay was dressed over the fascia into the gutter with nothing holding it up.

It sags, holds water in the fold, then splits along it. Rain then runs behind the gutter and down the wall plate and the rafter feet instead of into the downpipe, and by the time a ceiling stains the timber has been wet for years. Pine and birch debris off the heath fills the gutter as well, so clearing it out is what keeps that fold dry. The fix is to lift the bottom courses, cut the perished felt back, fit an eaves protection tray and re-lay. It is a repair, not a strip. If all you have is one slipped tile, a rocking hip or a single drip through a ceiling, our page on roof repairs in Three Legged Cross deals with that on its own.

Edges, coverings and the loft. The bungalows and hipped semis in Three Legged Cross carry a lot of edge for their footprint, all of it bedded in mortar when the house went up. Once the bedding cracks the tiles rock and the next gale leaves slipped, cracked and missing tiles along that edge, so we strip it and convert to a dry fix system screwed onto a vented roll, the mechanical fixing BS 5534 expects. Nearly everything here is interlocking concrete tile, where the tile outlives the nail or clip holding it. Plain clay tile and natural slate are rare on estates of this age, and there is no stone slate here at all. Plenty of houses were built without a chimney, so the lead is more often an abutment or a valley where an extension meets the main slope than a stack, with soakers cut in where the tiles run into it. Watch for capping: plastic boards were nailed over original fascia and soffit timber on a lot of these houses, and if that timber was wet it is still wet, so we take a section off rather than guess. Roofs of this vintage had little eaves ventilation, and insulation has since been pushed into the eaves and blocked the airway, which shows as condensation under the felt. Vent trays are far cheaper with the roof open, and Approved Document L sets the standard a renovated roof should reach.

Concrete tiled roofs have no rate per square metre, because two roofs the same size on the same close can need very different work. These are the things that move it in Three Legged Cross.

What the roof was built with. A lot of Three Legged Cross carries concrete interlocking tiles laid over bitumen felt. The tiles often have plenty of life left. The felt is usually what has failed, gone brittle at the eaves or torn where it laps. Whether the old tiles can be relaid on new membrane and battens, or have to be replaced as well, is the biggest single swing in the price.

Bungalow, house or terrace. There are plenty of bungalows in Three Legged Cross. The scaffold is lower and simpler, but there is more roof per room. A terraced row shares one roof line, so each end needs a proper abutment or lead detail against next door.

The ridge and the verges. Mortar bedded ridges and verges on roofs of this age are often loose or cracked. Converting to dry fixing costs more on the day and saves repeat visits later.

The platform. Because this is roof work, the work at height rules make the scaffold a priced line rather than something that turns up at the end.

Holding another quote against ours? Ask whether the battens and membrane are being renewed or the old felt left under new tiles, whether the ridge is being rebedded or dry fixed, and who is paying for the skip.

Three Legged Cross sits inside the Green Belt, which sounds as though it ought to complicate a roof and does not. Re-covering, repairing, new gutters and fascias and a rooflight are all householder permitted development, and the designation takes none of that away.

Where it bites is anything new standing on open ground, so an outbuilding beyond the permitted development limits, a large extension or an annexe in the garden is where you meet it and where an application can genuinely be refused.

Which matters here because of the garages and workshops. Re-roofing the detached garage you already have is a repair and nothing more. Taking it down and putting up a bigger one with a new flat roof is a planning question first and a roofing question second, so get that answer from the council before you get a price from anyone.

Three Legged Cross is about nine miles from our base at 80a Wolverton Road in Boscombe, between West Moors and Verwood, in Verwood parish, with Dorset Council for planning and building control. The company is Bournemouth Roofing & Building Ltd, registered in England and Wales, company number 15471719. Before you book a visit in Three Legged Cross, you can read our customers' Google reviews, word for word, on our reviews page.

It is Thomas Hannen's business, and Thomas is the one who climbs up, looks at your roof and writes the price. A verified customer scored us 10 out of 10 on Checkatrade. The site visit costs nothing and neither does the itemised written quote.

Most repairs in Three Legged Cross 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.