The best flat roof roofing material is undoubtedly an individual sheet of rubber custom made for weather-proofing flat roofs, such as Firestone’s EPDM product.
This is laid directly onto roof boarding, itself supported by the roof rafters and nagging. Insulating material is normally laid in the space between your two, and if you are renewing your flat roof anyway you may as well take the chance of renewing that as well.
This will almost certainly be the recommendation you obtain from any reputable builder or roofer advising you on replacing your existing flat roof.
Until recently the most used material for a fresh flat roof was bituminous felt laid in three layers, the initial layer nailed down and top of the two bonded to the one beneath with mastic bitumen. According to the material used, this may mean heating a good bitumen-based compound to create it liquid, and pouring it onto the underlying felt and spreading it evenly over the whole area of the roof.
Then you had to hold back for the compound to cool before applying the next layer, and at the end spreading a layer of stone chippings on the roof and bonding it with a chipping compound, this being to reflect the sun’s rays preventing the felt and bitumen degrading quickly.
This was altogether a fairly messy, complicated and time-consuming job best left to the experts. In addition, there have been several stages where it had been very easy to fail to make the roof weather-proof, e.g. where the edge of the felt met the prevailing tile or slate roofing of the pitch roof.
In addition, if, or rather when, there developed a leak in the flat roof, it would be very difficult and messy to learn exactly where the rain was getting back in. Seldom would the manifestation of the leak on the ceiling of the room below be directly below the foundation of it. Water could easily get by way of a weakness in the bitumen felt and travel along a rafter before descending to the ceiling board below.
The brand new generation of rubber-based flat roofing systems are far superior. For those who have reasonable DIY abilities then you can probably do-it-yourself, with one other person to assist. You can easily find a local supplier of rubber flat roof roofing material online, and the existing price is only around �6.65 per square metre.
Most suppliers slice the material to the exact shape and size that you require so are there no unnecessary joins, meaning no weaknesses and an exceptionally long-lasting, leak-proof roof.
Roofing Companies Baton Rouge The vital area of the whole process is to make sure that there are no gaps between your rubber roof and any existing pitch roof where rain may penetrate. To ensure there are no problems it is vital to run the rubber material up and under the tiles or slates of the adjoining pitch roof in order that any rain dripping from the lower-most row falls onto the rubber, without possibility of it over-lapping the edge and getting within the pitch roof.
Also, make sure that the existing slope of the flat roof towards the guttering or other method of water escape is maintained. The rubber is simply glued onto the roof boards and sealed where appropriate with metal brackets or bitumen in such a way that rain penetration is impossible. Mind that the glue covers the entire underneath of the rubber to be able to avoid bumps in the top which could obstruct the drainage of the water away.
Rubber roofs have been shown to last for more than 50 years under all weathers, so it really is the only flat roof roofing material you need to consider when deciding on a new flat roof.