Leaking flat roof

LittlePiskey

Hi,

Thanks to the little wet spell we've been having the flat roof on my garage has started leaking quite badly along one side. I know that it needs properly replacing as it looks quite old but i've only just bought the house and can't afford to have that done right now.

I was wandering whether there was any way that you can temporarily patch a flat roof using felt or tarpaulin or something, just to stop the water coming in while I save up.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

alanobrien

This works well for emergency fix.

http://www.screwfix.com/app/sfd/cat/pro.jsp;jsessionid=AGS0PRS2DMHR2CSTHZOSFFQ?cId=102009&ts=77483&id=57518

ormus

goto wickes, they have a good leaflet on flat roofs. and sell all the materials.
inc mastic/sealers for a temp repair.

LittlePiskey

Fantastic - thanks for the advice.

Poppycat

I got some Thompson roof seal from B&Q about 2.5 litres for a little under £20, you just brush it on and it dries with 30 minutes to a black colour (originally its grey), its water based too. I also got some Quick roof spray which patches up small areas, unfortunately neither worked it wasnt the fault of the products but because water got through an existing fall pipe which went through the roof and leaked when it rained heavy. I just got two flat roofs redone with EPDM a, large bay and our front porch, it including two new fall pipes so hopefully we wont be on tender hooks when we go out for fear of raining.

I did use the quick spray on a flat garage which also leaked which seemed to cure a small leak.

mycar

maybe you can find some useful information on https://www.flatroof.org

Jandy1234

Hi, sorry if this is irrelevant, but have you checked your guttering also, we had water coming in our garage roof but when we discovered a tennis ball lodged in the gutter and removed it, the leaking stopped. It may help to dry out the area you need to repair. Good luck fixing your roof from Jandy

George_Bray

Poppycat wrote: »

I got some Thompson roof seal from B&Q about 2.5 litres for a little under £20, you just brush it on and it dries with 30 minutes to a black colour (originally its grey), its water based too. I also got some Quick roof spray which patches up small areas, unfortunately neither worked

These tinned products strike me as expensive and lower quality than the real thing - a 25Kg block of bitumen can be bought from Wickes and elsewhere for about £12. Bitumen is the British Standard for flat roof construction and is perfect for repairs, too. Just break off a bit and heat it in an old saucepan over a Calor gas stove or something, until it melts. Then use an old paint brush to fill in cracks, gaps or to 'glue' down patches of repair felt. Be careful, though, as you would be with boiling water or frying oil.

I guess that 2.5 litres of a tinned product for £20 weighs about 2.5Kg. So that's £8 per Kg. But Bitumen is only about 50p per Kg (plus a bit for the cost of gas to heat it) and is MUCH better. Coverage is about the same so I hope I'm comparing like with like.

noonesperfect

Thomsons roof seal is excellent stuff and you can buy it in smaller quantities than 2.5L if you don't need that much.

It's certainly kept us out of shtuck!!!!!

Poppycat

But bitument cracks and hence why they tend to lay grit on it to absorb the suns rays, eventually the weather gets its way. The Thompson is very easy to apply it takes about 30mins all in and dry within an hour or less

I replaced my two roofs the other week at a cost of £800 with rubber EPDM, this included new barge boards and guttering, and a edge to stop water topping over on to our bay window and porch.

The reason I replaced them was the porch roof never had any guttering and when it rained heavy water would come on to you when you shut our front door. The bay window still leaked but I suspect it came from a drainage hole that went through the bay window roof

George_Bray

Poppycat wrote: »

I replaced my two roofs the other week at a cost of £800 with rubber EDF, this included new barge boards and guttering, and a edge to stop water topping over on to our bay window and porch.

Before this afternoon, I had plans to replace my flat roof as a step of preventive maintenace. The 25 sq metre flat roof (house extension) is nearly 25 years old and hasn't leaked yet but must be on borrowed time. So I thought I'd replace the felt with the latest high performance materials. What's wrong with that?

But according, to my local council, It seems you are no longer allowed to maintain your home to a level which prevents water pouring in, or whatever, unless you pay an effective stealth tax and agree to significant additional outlays for products I don't need or want. I'm more than disgusted. Do you know if they are correct?


I think of it as preventive MAINTENANCE but the Building Control people at the Council say national Government now insist on an insulation upgrade at the same time.


My cost for high quality felt would be about £250.

To that, I now need to add £117.50 for building control inspections/approval (a 50% stealth tax from my point of view).

But it gets worse: They say I need to CHANGE the insulation from padding inside the cavity of the roof (cold system) to insulation blocks on top of the roof (warm system). This involves two extra, major steps:

1. Lift all the plyboard decking to remove the existing insulation. The insulation can't be left in situ because, with two lots of insulation, one runs the risk of condensation. God only knows how difficult it will be to prize up each block of decking. I wouldn't expect it to be easy, and

2. Buy insulation blocks/material for laying on top of the roof. I haven't yet asked for a price on these but I bet they'll cost at least another £250.

So my initial cost estimate of £250 has now gone up to at least £617. So much for being a money saving expert!


You are allowed to repair the roof but not go for a complete recover or replacement, it seems. Is that right, do you know? Can they effectively force me to lift all the roof boards? Perhaps I'll have to go for so many repair patches that it becomes a total recover in effect but nowhere near as good a job as if the Government didn't interfere. I seldom heat the house, so there's no warm air to escape in the first place! All I wanted to do is prevent water coming in.