Roofing in Verwood

Verge caps and dry verge units. The job that brings us to BH31 more than any other. The plastic dry verge fitted on the 1980s and 1990s estates has had forty summers of ultraviolet on it, so it goes chalky and snaps at the clip in the first proper gale. Replacing one unit on a run of tired ones is a wasted trip, so we price the whole verge, both gables, in one visit.

Ridge and hip. With 44.4% of the housing here single storey, most of what we are called to is a hipped bungalow carrying an enormous run of edge for its floor area. Every metre of it is mortar bedding sat out in the weather, and once it hollows the tiles rock and water tracks behind. We take it off and convert to a dry fix system screwed onto a ventilated roll, the mechanical fixing BS 5534 expects, which ventilates the roof space along the ridge as it goes on.

Nearly everything on these estates is concrete tile, most of it interlocking, and the tile is usually sounder than the nails and clips holding it. The older cottages towards the village centre carry plain tile, clay tile and natural slate. An 1980s bungalow sits on light trussed rafters, so nothing in that loft can be cut or notched and a new rooflight needs the opening trimmed rather than a truss sawn through. Under the tiles sit battens, bitumen felt and no sarking board, and the felt perishes first at the eaves where it laps into the gutter. That is what decides a re-cover, and when it tears the covering comes off, wet timber is replaced and it goes back on breathable membrane and treated battens.

The 1980s garage roofs pond because the falls were never enough to start with, so on anything flat the deck and the falls come before the choice of felt, fibreglass or rubber. Bungalows of this age often have no stack at all, so most of our lead goes where a conservatory, porch or extension meets the main wall, and a mortar fillet in that position always fails. Low eaves are the one thing a bungalow gives you for free, and the heath and pine on the edge of the town fill the gutters with needles. Approved Document L sets the standard a renovated roof is expected to reach and Approved Document F covers the ventilation that has to go with it, both of them cheapest to deal with while the covering is off.

No rate per square metre: on a roof that is the least useful number there is. Verwood is the easiest access on our patch. A single storey roof is lower, so the platform is smaller, much of the edge and rainwater work comes off a tower, and most houses have a drive to stand it on. It is still work at height, and the work at height rules are why the platform is a priced line rather than an optional extra. Ask anyone else quoting whether battens and membrane are renewed or covered over, what grade of lead is going on, and who pays for the skip.

Getting on for half the homes in Verwood are bungalows, and that changes the sums more than anything else on this page. Every ceiling in the house is a ceiling under the roof, so heat leaves through all of it, and the roof itself is roughly double the area of a two storey house with the same rooms in it.

Two things follow. Edge work is worth more here than almost anywhere, because so much of that roof is ridge, hip and verge rather than open slope. And the loft repays better than any other part of the job, so we would rather sort insulation, vent trays at the eaves and any condensation while the covering is off. If you are boarding for storage, the boards want a raised frame that does not squash the insulation, landing where the trusses will take it.

About eleven miles from us, covering Verwood, Three Legged Cross, Edmondsham and the BH31 addresses out towards Cranborne, with Dorset Council for planning and building control. 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.