Anyone Know What's Involved in Installing a Rubber Roof?

[On the Road]

I arranged for the replacement of a flat roof today and was surprised to be told that a robber roof was the same price as the more traditional tar paper.

I may want to do this for other rental properties, but to save money I would prefer for it to be done by my maintenance person rather than a licensed roofer.

Does anyone know what skills and equipment are required for installing a rubber roof, or if this is even a possibility?

[Kolesar]

1. I recall that our roofer used a flame/heat gun to seal the overlapping roof seams

We had a shed roof done with a Dupont white roof treatment in 2005. That room became incredibly cooler after that treatment.

It was something like this: http://www.whiteroofs.net/SinglePlySystem/

[On the Road]

4. Will Investigate That

Of course, the flip side is that the building needs more heat in winter, no?

[Kolesar]

6. The line on that is that a dark roof is not effective for heating the house

You will decrease the annual energy bills more by putting on a bright roof than you would trying to heat the house with a black roof.

That's what the designer of the Cleveland Environmental Center told me about their commercial building. http://www.clevelandgbc.org/cec/

[Stinky The Clown]

2. I've had one installed on a rental property about two years ago ......

..... and its leaking now. I am getting a repair look-see and estimate this coming Wednesday.

The guy that did the first was was, obviously, Freddie Fly by Night. The skill set is not high to do these, but the need for care is ever present. My concern with having a non roofer do it is that you might not get as good a job as a professional might do.

I selected my guy as one of the many mop and tar guys that do such work in large cities in this part of the country. The fact that they own a ladder and truck doesn't make them qualified to do more than mop and tar work.

[Kolesar]

3. We used an expensive roofer with two pages of references

They said that if there was a tear, they could put on a big patch to cover the area. I suppose your repairers will just put down a big patch.

[Stinky The Clown]

7. That's probably what they'll do and that's just fine with me.

We plan to rent this place for a few more years then sell it. All I want at the moment is a non-leaking roof. Beyond that, cheaper is better than more. A $300 or $400 patch beats the hell out of a $2,000 new roof two years after the first new roof.

[On the Road]

5. The Quality is an Issue

but if it's half price, it would be worth getting it done by my handyman. I have several flat roofs installed and none were by someone from the Yellow Pages. A few problems, but worth it.

[Stinky The Clown]

8. I'm not exactly sure how they do it because I wasn't on the roof .....

.... but the guys who were up there had clearly missed the admissions cut at Yale or Harvard. They had big torches, kinda like this guy's using.