Roofing in West Lulworth

The old cottages in West Lulworth carry Purbeck stone laid in diminishing courses, heavy, hung on pegs, and worth far more than what would replace it. A slipped stone is usually a failed peg or a soft batten, so the repair is to lift, sort and re-hang, saving every stone that will take another century.

Anyone offering to strip a stone slate roof and put concrete tile on it has not looked at the timbers underneath, which were sized for that weight and nothing else.

Fixings, this close to the water. At 0.7km from the coast salt corrodes metal from the edge inwards, so the nail goes long before the covering does. Slates sliding out one at a time in no pattern are nail sickness, not a finished roof: a few come back with tingles, a slope shedding them wants re-hanging on new battens with non-ferrous nails. Most of these roofs never had underlay and there is no sarking board either, so if we strip it goes back on breathable membrane and treated battens with copper or stainless fixings and clipped perimeter courses.

Wind here works at the edges rather than the middle of a slope, so mortar bedding on the ridge and the verge fails first. Away from the old core it is clay tile and interlocking concrete, and a plain tile roof fails through its fixings like anywhere else. Where the building is not sensitive we convert to a mechanically fixed dry ridge and dry verge on a ventilated roll, the fixing BS 5534 expects. On a listed cottage or a prominent frontage in the West Lulworth Conservation Area we re-bed in a lime rich mortar with the fixing hidden underneath, so it holds without changing the look. Lead is right for flashings, valleys and abutments this close to the water, because it does not corrode the way steel and flashing tape do.

There is thatch in this village and it is a separate trade, so we work up to the junction, get the lead right and leave the rest to somebody who does it properly. On a flat roof in felt or rubber the deck, the edge trim and the perimeter fixings matter as much as the membrane, because wind gets under a loose edge and peels the lot. On a rubble stone wall the water often arrives through the wall head rather than the covering, and it is worth knowing which. Rainwater goods corrode from the fixings inwards and the brackets go before the gutter does, so a downpipe pulls away and water tracks down the fascia and soffit. Clearing debris out of the gutters and algae off a shaded slope is annual work. Insulation and eaves ventilation matter more in a house that sits unheated for weeks at a time, because that is when condensation does its damage, and Approved Document L sets the standard a renovated roof is expected to reach.

Getting materials up there. Much of the difference between two roofs in West Lulworth is access, not area. A cottage tight to the lane with nowhere to stand a lorry needs scaffold delivered in stages and sometimes carried in by hand, and summer traffic heading for the cove slows it further. The platform is a priced line of its own because the work at height rules decide it, not the budget.

What the covering is. Natural slate, stone slate, handmade clay tile and interlocking concrete tile all strip and fix differently. Matching old slate or stone costs more than a new concrete tile, and on a listed building or a slope you can see from the street, a close match is expected rather than optional.

Weather off the sea. The south west slopes take the driven rain. Verges, ridges and the lead at the abutments wear there first, and fixings near the coast rust out sooner than inland. Stainless fixings and a properly bedded or dry fixed verge look like extras on paper and save a return visit.

What is under the slates. Older roofs in West Lulworth can have no underlay at all, or felt that has turned to dust at the eaves. Battens that are soft or undersized come off. Thomas looks from the loft before pricing, so that sits in the quote rather than turning up halfway through.

Before you pick a quote, ask each firm the same things. Are the battens and membrane being renewed or left and covered over? What fixings go on the seaward slope? Are the scaffold and the leadwork shown as their own lines?

Under a mile from the sea, everything metal on a roof has a shorter life than the same thing inland. Salt settles on the surface, holds moisture against it between showers and corrodes steel from the exposed edge inwards. So the slate is sound and the nail has gone.

The tile is fine and the clip has rusted off. The gutter is serviceable and the bracket has failed. That is why we look at the fixings first, and why a roof can shed at the verge while the middle of the slope is perfect.

It changes what we specify. Copper or stainless nails rather than galvanised, non-ferrous clips, lead at the junctions instead of anything coated, and mechanical fixing to the perimeter courses on the exposed elevation. It is a small part of the cost of a roof and it decides whether you are back up there in ten years or thirty. If you are collecting quotes, ask what the fixings are made of.

Our base is at Wolverton Road in Boscombe, 19.4 miles from the village, and we cover West Lulworth, Lulworth Cove, East Lulworth and the BH20 addresses in West Purbeck. Dorset Council deals with planning and building control here.

You are dealing with Bournemouth Roofing & Building Ltd, registered in England and Wales, company number 15471719. It is Thomas Hannen's business, and Thomas is the person who comes out, looks at your roof and prices it. One verified customer has scored us 10 out of 10 on Checkatrade. The site visit costs you nothing, and neither does the written quote with every item set out. Before you book a visit in West Lulworth, you can read our customers' Google reviews, word for word, on our reviews page.

Most repairs in West Lulworth 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.