Roofers in Wimborne Minster

Roofing work in Wimborne Minster runs from a single slipped slate to a full strip and re-cover. Each job below says what it involves, roughly how long it takes, and when we would tell you not to spend the money. A single leak or one slipped slate is a smaller job, and it has its own page for roof repairs in Wimborne Minster. In the old town you mostly find natural slate and clay tile, and on the post-war streets concrete interlocking tile.

Slipped slates and tiles. Natural slate outlasts the nails that hold it, so slates slide out one and two at a time while the slate itself is still good. A few are re-hung on copper clips, usually a morning from a ladder or a tower. Once several go in one season the fixings across the slope are failing, and a dozen clips is not a repaired roof. That is when we talk about re-slating the slope and reusing the sound slate.

Chimney leadwork. The job covers the front apron, the soakers and step flashings up the sides, the back gutter behind the stack where debris sits, and cracked flaunching on top. New lead goes in at the right code, in lengths short enough to move without splitting. With the scaffold up, a stack is usually one to two days. If the lead is sound and only the flaunching has cracked, we re-flaunch and leave the lead alone.

Parapet gutters and valleys. Some centre roofs sit behind a parapet. A pair of shops on the Square is listed with a “slate roof behind parapet”. Water there runs along a lead or felt gutter to an outlet and a hopper, and when the outlet blocks or the lining splits it overflows into the wall, not onto the pavement. You see damp on an upstairs wall, never a drip. We check it from the roof, clear the outlet, and re-line in lead with proper steps or in a single-ply membrane. Open lead valleys on older roofs split at the folds in the same way. A valley or a short gutter re-line is usually one to two days.

Ridge and verge. Ridge tiles bedded in mortar crack and let go, and verges lose their bedding at the gable. On newer roofs we fit a dry fix system, dry ridge and dry verge screwed down over a ventilated roll, the mechanical fixing BS 5534 expects. On a period roof in the conservation area we re-bed the original ridge in mortar and fix each ridge tile mechanically as well, so it meets BS 5534 and still looks right from the street. A plastic dry verge would change the look of the gable.

Re-roofing. An old slate roof often has no underlay, just battens over the rafters. A re-roof strips the covering, fits breathable membrane and new treated battens, and puts sound slates back on the street side with matched new slate behind. A terrace slope usually takes about a week, a whole house longer. If only the nails have failed and the slates are sound, we re-slate with the same slate and do not sell you new.

Flat roofs. Back additions, dormers, garages and the flat over a shop front go in felt, GRP fibreglass or EPDM rubber, laid on a sound deck with the fall running to the outlet. A garage or small addition is usually one to two days. Laying new felt over a wet or soft deck only traps the water, so we will not do it.

Roofline, rooflights and moss. Cast iron gutters and downpipes on older houses are heavy, painted and worth keeping if the run is sound. Rooflights go in with a proper flashing kit on a rear slope. North-facing slate greens over and holds water in the laps. It gets cleared by hand, because a pressure lance takes the face off an old slate. Insulating a cold loft under old slate needs thought about airflow, and Approved Document L sets the standard a renovated roof should reach.

Roofs in Wimborne are priced from a visit, not from a rate per hour or per square metre over the phone. The same job can cost very different amounts on two houses in one street, for these reasons.

Where the scaffold can stand. A detached house with a drive is simple. A terrace off the Square with its front on the footway needs a licence, a fan to protect people walking underneath and sometimes a gantry. With no rear access, every batten and slate goes up the front. The work at height rules decide when scaffold is needed on a roof. We price it openly, as its own line.

What the roof is made of. Reusing sound natural slate saves material, and sourcing a match for the rest adds to it. A stone or slate eaves course that has to be lifted and relaid takes longer than tile. Concrete tile over old felt strips faster.

What turns up underneath. Rotten battens, wet rafter feet and cracked flaunching only show once the covering is off. The quote says what happens if we find them.

A flat, not a house. On a leasehold flat the roof belongs to the freeholder, and major work goes through the consultation in section 20 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985. Start with your managing agent.

Then put the same questions to any other quote. Is the scaffold and its licence included? Are battens and membrane being renewed, or is new covering going over old? What code of lead goes on the stack and valleys? Are the eaves courses being kept?

Several listed clay-tiled roofs in the centre of Wimborne finish at the bottom with a course of stone or slate, not tile. One house on West Borough is listed with a “tiled roof with stone eaves course”, and the Priest’s House Museum on the High Street has the same. A terrace on East Street and a house on King Street have slate courses at the eaves.

On a re-tile or an eaves repair those courses are lifted, kept and relaid. Stone is heavy and needs its own fixing and firm support at the eaves, and a broken slate course needs a matching slate. Swapping them for tile is quicker but changes the look from the street, so ask any roofer what happens to them before you sign.

The centre sits in the Wimborne Minster Conservation Area: putting back what is there is maintenance. A dormer needs planning permission here, and a change of material or a front rooflight can too, so check with Dorset Council first. On the listed buildings along West Borough, East Street, King Street, Cook Row and the Square, anything beyond like-for-like needs listed building consent.

Bournemouth Roofing & Building Ltd works from Wolverton Road in Boscombe and covers the Wimborne town centre, Furzehill, Merley, Colehill and the BH21 addresses around them. Dorset Council handles planning and building control here.

The company is registered in England and Wales under company number 15471719, which anyone can check at Companies House. It is Thomas Hannen's business, and Thomas comes out to see your roof and prices it himself. One verified customer gave us 10 out of 10 on Checkatrade. The site visit costs nothing, and neither does the written, itemised quote. Read our customers' Google reviews, word for word, on our reviews page.

Most repairs in Wimborne Minster 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.