Roofing in Westbourne

Slate on the villas. The big late Victorian and Edwardian red brick houses that give Westbourne its character are often roofed in natural slate, on hips, gables and bays. Slate outlasts the nails that hold it.

When the nails rust through, slates slip a course at a time, and a roof can look fine from the road while dozens are hanging on by one fixing. We refix singles with copper or stainless clips, and when enough have gone that patching stops being honest, we talk about stripping a slope, re-using the sound slates and making up with a matched reclaimed or new natural slate.

Re-covering properly. A full re-roof means stripping to the rafters, replacing soft timber, and going back on breathable membrane and new treated battens. The old bitumen felt under most Westbourne roofs is usually brittle at the eaves. Ridges and hips go back mechanically fixed in line with BS 5534, instead of relying on mortar bedding alone. A straightforward slope is a few working days once the scaffold is up. A villa with bays, dormers and several hips is longer, and we tell you that at the quote. If it is one slipped slate, a split valley or a drip over a single flat, that belongs on our page for roof repairs in Westbourne.

Lead and the junctions. Most leaks we trace start at a junction rather than in the open slope: chimney flashings and soakers, lead valleys between hips, and the abutment where a later extension meets the old wall. Code rated lead is cut in lengths that can move without splitting. On the Westbourne shop parades, the roofs behind the parapets often drain through a lead or asphalt box gutter to a hopper at the back, and when that silts up the water goes into the wall.

Blocks and later roofs. The post-war and more recent blocks carry concrete interlocking tile on shallow pitches, or flat roofs in felt, GRP fibreglass or EPDM rubber. Those are usually managed by an agent, and we price them in a form the agent can put to the leaseholders. Clay plain tile turns up on some of the Edwardian houses in Westbourne, and a tile that has delaminated gets matched rather than swapped for whatever is to hand.

When we would talk you out of it. A slate roof with a dozen slipped slates and sound timbers does not need replacing. Nor does a concrete tile roof with a failed ridge. Moss looks alarming and rarely lets water in on its own, though it does block gutters and downpipes.

No rate per square metre, because the square metres are the easiest thing to measure and the least useful thing to know.

Getting to it. A slated villa split into four flats, a shop with two storeys of flats above it on a pavement frontage, and a purpose-built block with a lift overrun on the roof are three different set ups, and the pavement ones need a council licence for the scaffold under section 169 of the Highways Act. Some roofs come off a tower, most want a scaffold, and how long it stands matters as much as its size. This is work at height and the work at height rules are why the platform is a priced line rather than an optional extra.

Junctions and substrate. Chimneys, valleys and abutments are priced one at a time, because that is where the leadwork hours go. Battens, membrane and fixings are the part nobody sees and the part that decides what a re-cover costs.

Comparing quotes? Ask whether the scaffold is in the price, whether battens and membrane are renewed or covered over, what grade of lead is going on the chimney, and who pays for the skip.

We cover Westbourne and the rest of BH4, from County Gates across to the West Cliff and down to Alum Chine, as well as Branksome and Canford Cliffs next door. BCP Council handles planning and building control for all of them, and our Boscombe base is under three miles away.

You are dealing with Bournemouth Roofing & Building, the trading name of 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. Before you book a visit in Westbourne, you can read our customers' Google reviews, word for word, on our reviews page.

Most repairs in Westbourne 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.