Greater Manchester is terrace country, street after street of pre-1919 houses, and most of them have gained a flat roof at some point: a back kitchen, a bathroom over the outrigger, a porch. The inter-war and post-war semis that ring the city, from Wythenshawe and Sale to Prestwich, Bury and Bolton, add integral garages, side extensions and dormers, nearly all under felt on a timber deck with nothing much beneath it.
Whether the roof is in Salford or Stockport, the fix is the same. Strip to the deck, vapour control layer, over 100 mm of PIR insulation above the joists, a new deck and a single sheet of EPDM, with the abutments and outlets formed properly. Our Manchester office handles the survey and the booking; our own crews do the roof.
Manchester, Salford, Oldham, Rochdale, Tameside, Bolton and Wigan are terrace country, and the flat roofs are on the back: kitchens, bathrooms and lean-to extensions off the outrigger, reached from the yard or the alley. Scaffold goes up in the morning, the roof is usually done in a day, and the street is not blocked.
The 1930s and post-war semis of Trafford, south Manchester, Bury, Stockport and Tameside have flat roofs over the garage, the porch and the side extension, and a generation of felt dormers on the bungalows. The bedroom over the garage is the cold one; a warm roof under it is the fix.
Greater Manchester’s councils and housing associations hold a large share of the flat roofed stock, and much of it is inside retrofit programmes. Flat roof insulation is a PAS 2030 measure, so it can be funded; we survey and price roof by roof, deliver with residents at home and hand over the photographic record for the evidence pack.
Stockport, Trafford, Manchester and Salford all have conservation areas and Article 4 directions on some streets. A like for like warm roof on an existing flat roof does not usually change the appearance from the street, but if your house is in one we check before we quote rather than after.
The same warm roof build up on three very different roofs: a garage, a rear extension and an L shaped wraparound. Every layer photographed on the day. These three are in North Wales and Merseyside; the roofs we do across Greater Manchester are built the same way.
Old felt stripped to the deck, vapour control layer, over 100 mm of PIR, new OSB, EPDM and new fascias, between lunchtime and teatime.
Read the case study →
A stained, ponding kitchen extension roof rebuilt as a warm roof with the insulation above the joists, edges and abutment formed properly.
Read the case study →
Surveyed in July, rebuilt over two days in August: over 100 mm of PIR, new deck, EPDM, and new white fascias to match the cladding.
Read the case study →Running a programme? Torentum Court, Fleetwood: fifteen flat roofs and 179 m of tiles reinstated on an occupied independent living scheme, delivered under our PAS 2030 certification for flat roof insulation. All case studies →
Extension roofs, dormers, garages and porches anywhere in the ten boroughs. The rooms under them are the cold ones in winter and the hot ones in summer, and a warm roof fixes both.
The same crews and the same paperwork across a street or a scheme, for Greater Manchester’s councils, housing associations and the main contractors delivering their programmes.
How a warm roof is built, what it costs to run and the full FAQ are on our flat roof insulation page. Pitched roofs, repairs and re-roofing are on roofing.
A garage, porch or single extension roof is usually stripped, insulated and finished in one working day. An L shaped or wraparound roof takes two. We never strip more than we can make weathertight the same day, so nothing is left open overnight.
For an existing house, yes. A warm roof puts the insulation above the deck with a vapour control layer beneath and the membrane on top, so the joists stay on the warm side and condensation has nowhere to form. A cold roof, with insulation pushed between the joists, needs ventilation to stay dry and rarely gets it on a retrofit.
Sometimes, but it does nothing for the insulation and hides whatever the old covering is sitting on. If the roof is at the end of its life we take it back to the deck, check the timber and rebuild it as a warm roof, then photograph every layer so you can see what you paid for.
Insulation is zero rated for VAT on residential property until 31 March 2027, and that includes the insulation in a warm roof. If you are a social housing tenant, ask your landlord: flat roof insulation is a PAS 2030 measure, so it can be delivered inside funded retrofit programmes such as Warm Homes: Local Grant and the Social Housing Fund, and we are certified to install it.
All ten boroughs: Manchester, Salford, Trafford, Stockport, Tameside, Oldham, Rochdale, Bury, Bolton and Wigan, across the M, BL, OL, SK, WN and WA14 to WA15 postcodes, plus the Cheshire side of the border. We also cover East Lancashire and South Ribble and Leyland.
Homeowners get a free, no obligation survey and a straight answer. Housing providers and contractors get a measured package from a PAS 2030 certified installer of flat roof insulation. Manchester office: 0161 457 3901.
