Southbourne, Bournemouth Roofing - Pitched Slate Roof

       

This roofing job in Southbourne, Bournemouth required a complete re-roofing of an existing pitched slate roof.  The existing roof had no underfelt, the roof slates were slipping in places, some minor repairs to the timber rafters were required due to rot and the customer also wanted the existing roof light replaced with a modern Velux roof light. 

The chimney stack also required some attention, needing bricking up, corbelling and a new pot and cowl.  Along with the short chimney stack, the absence of felt under the slates was causing a build up of soot and dust to the loft area.  Fascia, soffits and guttering were to be replaced with quality upvc.

Existing hip tiles, ridge tiles and slates were re-used where possible to retain the character of the roof, with approximately 25% reclaimed slate mixed in when re-tiling the roof.

To begin works, a scaffold was erected (see our Bournemouth Scaffolding blog page) to enable works to the roof.  To ensure our customer's home remained weather-tight throughout works, we stripped one pitch of the roof at a time, fixing new breathable under felt and treated timber battens as we went. 

Once felted and battened, a mix of the old slate and reclaimed slate was laid to the roof pitches, fixed to the battens with copper nails.  This way, regardless of the weather we know our customer's home remains in the dry whiie works progress and gives a little peace of mind.  Hip irons were replaced ready for slating.

The old iron roof light was removed and discarded, and the opening for the new Velux roof light cut.  Treated timber rafters were doubled up either side of the opening, with the timber trimmers top and bottom cut in. 

The velux was then offered in to position and fixed in place, with flashings fitted as we tiled the roof.

 

Once the roof was stripped of all old slate and battens, repairs were made to the structural roof timbers, with several rafters requiring replacement due to rot or wood boring insect damage.  We had carefully removed the existing slate as per the customer's wishes, salvaging as much as possible to re-use with two advantages - one that it obviously helps to keep costs down, and two that the finished roof doesn't look awkward against the house, having a nice weathered appearance in keeping with the rest of the building.  The slates we did need to replace were reclaimed slate from a local roofing supplier and matched in well with the existing.

Hip and ridge tiles again were salvaged, most of them being re-used with a few extras required which we found the closest match for.  New, quality upvc fascia, soffits and ogee guttering were fixed to the property, giving an attractive and maintenance free finish to the edge of the roof. 

The scaffold was taken down at the end of the job, all debris removed from site and the customer in Southbourne was left with an attractive roof which was a well blended mix of existing and reclaimed slates.

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