Cut roofs
Hand cut on site where the shape, the existing structure or the link between two buildings rules a truss out.
Areas · Bourne, Lincolnshire
Carpenters in Bourne
Carpenters in Bourne, Lincolnshire, ten miles west of our Spalding base. We hold the carpentry package on the Town Hall, and we are in the town most weeks. Free site visit and a written estimate.
If you live in Bourne you have probably already seen AJB's work, because the scaffold on the Town Hall is ours. It is the biggest commercial build the company has taken on: a 16 month renovation for Probus Construction with 12 separate roof adaptations inside it, a new theatre, a new cafe for the town and a five metre clock on the front elevation.
A building like that is a fair advertisement for a carpentry contractor, because there is nowhere to hide on it. Old structure, live town centre, twelve roofs that all meet each other, and a programme that other trades are queuing behind.
Proof
Work we have done in Bourne.
Bourne Town Hall, for Probus Construction. AJB's largest commercial build to date. Day one was site safety and security on a 16 month renovation, followed by roof inspections ahead of a re-roof and restructure. The carpentry package spans 11 separate roofs across the build, and 12 roof adaptations and alterations in total.
Phase one: the hand cut link way roof. A hand cut roof forming the link between the main building and the rear extension, with two large Velux windows set either side of it. Link roofs are awkward by definition: they have to pick up two different buildings at two different heights and finish square to both, which is why it was cut on site rather than delivered on a lorry.
The clock tower support. A complex of steels and timber build up to carry the new five metre clock on the front elevation, left with a simple ply finish. Everything difficult about that job is invisible in the finished building, which is exactly how structural carpentry should end up.
Flat roofs, cut roofs and rooflight alterations. New flat roofs to the rear, new cut roofs, and alterations through the existing structure to take skylights and Velux windows. There is also a rear lower lean to at a 5 degree pitch built to support mechanical works and plant serving the building.
A hip roof extension. On the domestic side, a hip roof extension completed in Bourne during a week that also carried two roofs and plastics plus a posi joist set at Stilton and a hand cut joist set in Spalding. Bourne work is not only the Town Hall.
The Bourne Town Hall package
- Client
- Probus Construction Ltd
- Programme
- 16 month renovation
- Roofs
- 11 separate roofs, 12 adaptations and alterations
- Phase 1
- Hand cut link way roof, 2 large Velux
- Clock
- Steel and timber build up for a new 5 metre clock
- Rear
- Flat roofs and a 5 degree lean to for mechanical works
- Also in the build
- A new theatre and a new cafe for the town
What we do here
The services Bourne asks for most.
Flat roofs
Warm and cold deck flat roofs, firrings set to a fall, and lean to structures built to carry plant.
Dormers and Velux
Traditional cut dormers and rooflight openings trimmed properly into new or existing roof structures.
Roof repairs and alterations
Cutting into an existing roof, restructuring, and re-roofing older buildings that were never square to begin with.
Extensions and renovations
Domestic extensions including hip roof builds, managed turnkey with in house trades if you want them.
Commercial carpentry
Full packages on renovation and conversion schemes, priced from drawings and held to a main contractor's programme.
Getting to you
Twenty minutes on the A151.
Bourne is about 10 miles from the Spalding base, straight out on the A151 through Pinchbeck and Twenty. It is one of the shortest runs AJB makes, and with the Town Hall live there is usually a van in the town anyway, so a domestic job in Bourne rarely waits long for a look.
Villages covered on the same route include Pinchbeck, Twenty, Dyke, Morton, Thurlby, Baston, Langtoft, Rippingale, Billingborough, Corby Glen, Market Deeping and Deeping St James. Grantham is a further sixteen miles west on the A52, where AJB is working for the same main contractor at 17-19 High Street.
Case studies
Bourne and the towns either side.
Bourne Town Hall
The full story: 12 roof adaptations, the hand cut link way roof, the clock tower build up and the flat roofs, across a 16 month renovation.
17-19 High Street, Grantham
Nine apartments and a pharmacy in a disused town centre building: 72 fire doors, two double winder staircases, sash windows and nine kitchens.
Spalding turnkey renovations
Ten miles east: a 3 bed semi taken back to a brick shell, a renovation and extension with our own brickwork gang, and 11 industrial unit joist sets.
Common questions
Before you call
Are you the carpenters working on Bourne Town Hall?
Yes. We hold the carpentry package on the Bourne Town Hall renovation for Probus Construction, a 16 month project and our biggest commercial build to date. It spans 12 roof adaptations and alterations, new flat roofs and cut roofs, skylight and Velux openings, and the structural build up carrying a new five metre clock.
What is involved in the clock tower work?
A complex of steels and timber build up to support the new five metre clock on the front elevation, finished with a simple ply face. The simplicity of what you see is the point: all of the difficulty sits behind it, in getting steel and timber to carry a large clock on an old building.
Do you do domestic roofs in Bourne as well as the town hall?
Yes. We completed a hip roof extension in Bourne in the same week as two roofs and a posi joist set at Stilton and a hand cut joist set in Spalding. Domestic roofs, garage roofs, extensions and dormers are routine work here.
Can you cut a roof by hand rather than use trusses?
Yes, and on an existing building it is often the only way. Phase one at the Town Hall was a hand cut link way roof joining the main building to the rear extension with two large Velux windows either side, which no truss design would have produced.
Can you fit Velux and skylights into an existing roof?
Yes. Roof alterations for skylights and Velux windows are part of the Town Hall package. Cutting an opening into an existing roof means trimming the rafters properly, forming the upstand square to the plane of the roof and getting the flashing kit right, not just cutting a hole and hoping.
How far is Bourne from your base?
About 10 miles. Bourne is twenty minutes west of Spalding on the A151 through Pinchbeck, and it is one of the closest towns we work in, which is why we can be on the Town Hall and still pick up domestic work in the town.
Bourne roof, extension or renovation?
Twenty minutes away, with a free site visit and a written estimate.