Garage roofs are the most neglected roofs in Porthleven. Nobody looks at them until the felt splits, the boards go soft and water starts dripping on the car, the freezer or the boxes you meant to sort out. By then the deck is usually rotten and the fascia with it. We replace flat, pitched and corrugated garage roofs across Porthleven and the rest of Porthleven, TR13, usually in a single day for a standard garage, and we can deal with the old asbestos cement sheets that so many garages in the area still carry.
The garage roofs we see in Porthleven
Three types cover almost every garage in Porthleven. Flat-roofed garages attached to 1960s and 70s houses, covered in felt that has been patched and re-felted several times. Detached prefabricated concrete garages, often with corrugated asbestos cement sheets from the same era. And pitched or lean-to garages with old fibre cement or steel sheets. Each needs a different approach, and each has a modern replacement that will last several times longer than what came off.
Your options for a new garage roof
- EPDM rubber on a new deck. The standard choice for a flat garage roof in Porthleven. One sheet, no joints, fully bonded, with a fifty-year life. See our EPDM page for the detail.
- GRP fibreglass. If you want a walkable surface, a particular colour, or the garage roof doubles as a terrace. See GRP roofing.
- Box-profile steel sheets. For pitched and lean-to garages: quick, light, good value, and available as insulated composite panels if you use the garage as a workshop, gym or office.
- Re-felting. We'll do it if you ask, but we rarely recommend it. Felt is the shortest-lived option and an EPDM roof costs little more and lasts several times longer.
Asbestos cement garage roofs
A great many detached garages in Porthleven, TR13 still have their original corrugated asbestos cement roof sheets. These are a low-risk form of asbestos when left alone, but they do eventually crack, grow moss and leak, and they have to be handled correctly when they come off. We remove and dispose of asbestos cement sheets following the HSE procedure for non-licensed work: sheets are kept wet, removed whole rather than broken, double-bagged or wrapped, and taken to a licensed disposal site. You get the waste transfer note for your records. We then fit the new roof in the same visit wherever possible, so the garage is never left open.
What's involved in replacing a garage roof
- Strip. The old covering and, if rotten, the deck come off. Everything goes in our van or skip, not your garden.
- Timbers. Joists are checked and any soft ones replaced or sistered. Falls are corrected so water runs to the gutter rather than pooling.
- New deck. Fresh OSB3 boards for a flat roof, or new purlins for a sheeted pitched roof.
- Insulation if you want it, which is worth having if the garage is heated or you work in it.
- Covering. EPDM, GRP or sheets, fitted with the proper trims and fixings.
- Roofline. New fascia boards and guttering if the old ones are rotten, which they usually are by the time the roof has been leaking for a while.
Garage conversions and workshops
If you're thinking of converting the garage, the roof is the place to start. A warm-roof build-up with insulation, a new deck and EPDM gives you a dry, insulated space ready for the building side to carry on with. We do both halves of that job in Porthleven; see our building work page.
Signs your garage roof in Porthleven needs replacing
Garage roofs give plenty of warning if you look. From outside: felt that has bubbled, cracked or lifted at the edges, moss growing on the surface, water ponding after rain, a sagging centre or a fascia board that has gone black and soft. From inside: daylight through the boards, dark water stains on the underside of the deck, a musty smell, white salts on the walls where water has run down, and rust on anything metal stored underneath. Corrugated asbestos cement roofs on the detached garages around Porthleven show cracked or slipped sheets, heavy moss and gaps at the ridge. Any two of these on a garage in Porthleven, TR13 means a repair is a false economy and a new roof is the answer.
Garage roofs on prefabricated concrete garages
Many of the detached garages in Porthleven are sectional concrete garages with a shallow pitched roof originally covered in corrugated asbestos cement. These are a special case. The concrete panels are usually sound but the steel roof trusses or timber purlins may have rusted or rotted, and the sheets have to be removed with the proper asbestos procedure. We replace them with box-profile steel or insulated composite sheets on new purlins, with new ridge and barge flashings, and the garage ends up drier and better looking than it has been in decades. If the concrete panels themselves are cracked or leaning we'll tell you honestly whether the garage is worth re-roofing.
Garage roofing across Porthleven and Porthleven, TR13
Porthleven Roofing is based in Porthleven and covers the whole of Porthleven, TR13. A single flat garage roof is usually one day; a double garage or a pitched garage with sheet removal, two. We give a written quote after seeing the roof, often from a few photos if access is simple, and we photograph the deck before the new covering goes on.