Flat roof help needed: We plan on replacing the roof in the summer of 2014

[hedgehog]

with a peaked roof. We have to lie with the flat roof until then. Most of it is OK, but there is one persistent leak that keeps reoccurring. My husband had patched the same seam several times, but it keeps re-opening. Any suggestions to get us through the next 3 years?

[Stinky The Clown]

1. You may want to hire a roofer to look at it. It may not cost what you're thinking it might.

Both my rentals are rubber flat roofs. One of them had a leak that a roofer gave me an estimate for $7,000!!!

I got another guy to look at it. He said that one seam was bad where the (rooftop mounted) AC lines entered the roof. He fixed it for $200. That was two years ago.

What is the roofing you have? A tar mop roof is 5 years, tops. A rubber roof maybe 10 or 15.

[hedgehog]

3. I think it is tar paper with multiple coats of aluminum roof sealer.

[Stinky The Clown]

4. Do they do tar mops in your area?

I'm guessing your roof is old and oft-patched. I don't think a repair outcome like we got is possible. Ours was a two year old rubber roof that had a botched patch when the AC guy installed the central air. Sounds like your roof is far older.

A tar mop may buy you a few years, but it sounds like you're at the end of the line. Flat roofs are problematic at best.

[hedgehog]

5. I'm just trying to make the end of the line slightly thicker

2 more years, 2 more years!

[NMDemDist2]

2. we used the white stuff in the blue can on our flat roof

it worked great!

[Warpy]

6. I foamed my flat roof 10 years ago

and stopped all but a really minor skylight leak. It also increased the insulation in the ceiling to the point that I don't have to use the evaporative cooler until it gets into the mid 90s. The low 90s are tolerable. My 1946 floor furnace also does a fair job of heating now instead of keeping my hands and feet blue all winter. You can install a peaked roof over this, just be sure the space is well ventilated because it is urethane foam and you don't want the fumes in the house.

My next door neighbor skipped the foam and went right to a peaked roof with a metal surface. She hasn't noticed the same savings I have but her roof doesn't leak any more, either. Plus, it's supposed to be good for about 50 years or so.

[hedgehog]

7. Tell me more about this foam.

[Warpy]

8. It's polyurethane expanding foam and it's the same stuff you squirt

into cracks around window frames only on a much larger scale. As they foam the roof, they also sculpt it so the water drains off properly, a big problem with the old roof. It didn't drain. It just sat there until a seam worked loose and it ended up coming through the ceiling.

It's environmentally unsound but was all I could afford to better insulate my roof while stopping the leaks.

[txlibdem]

9. Stopping the heat streaming out through your old roof... that IS environmentally sound

Good thinking on the foam.

[Warpy]

10. Actually, I consider it kind of a wash.

The savings in fossil fuel energy being balanced out by the nasty fumes from the urethane. However, the difference in comfort tipped the balance for me.

[Wash. state Desk Jet]

11. There is a patching compound plastacoat or some such name

that does it. It is a permanent patch ,summer time is best to apply it -do at least two coats-use the fiberglass mesh -coat under it and over it and it is for that kind of problem as well as flashings and chimneys.Or buy a product that is compatible with the silver coat you got on yer roof at current .the stuff I used ,I got at lowe's ,a red can=1 gal or five gal. home depot sells it's equivalent different name brand called perma patch.Both products far far better than the wet dry patch. The stuff will buy you the time you need. also - you can call a roofing supply outfit to find out if they got any heavy duty professional grade stuff -but the plastapatch stuff really does it. Three coats is best. Maybe check yer patch every so now and again until you put the pitched roof over the flat top.

About $10.00 or $15.00 bucks a gallon.you use a putty knife or trowel to apply it.

Come to think of it, there was this really bad leak one time in a flat roofed addition. what I did was buy a aluminum self sticking patch -aluminum with rubber self sticking backing -alcoa product I think if I recall correctly. The stuff is actually designed to cure leaks. but on that one I used the plastacoat over the top of it! A bit of a over kill ,but I did not want to get a call during a rain storm about it leaking ! They wanted to put off redoing the flat roof. It's been about three years ! And that stuff really sticks too !

And it will conform nicely over the edges and or drip guards-float right over those !

I think the aluminum patch with rubber self sticking backing was about $20.00 or $25.00 per roll .wider stuff cost more - but it's really good.

No doubt that will get you yer extension !

On 2nd. edit now that I think about it, I recovered a covered deck and the lidd, or roof floated over on to the house roof ,about 3 feet just resting on the shingle. I liked that aluminum patch so I used it to tie in- ,stuck to the shingle like gang busters. Again I floated over the aluminum patching with plactacoat. Not so much as a drop of water on the covered deck. The old roof was tied in with flashing ,than roll roofing over the flashing tucked under the 3 tab. but it forever leaked .On the other hand it was old.

[hedgehog]

12. Thanks everyone! I'll be showing these to my husband. It's one

seam that keeps opening in the heat when the roof flexes. He has a line on some used material from one of those inflated roofs used over sports complexes. I'll let you know what happens.

[Wash. state Desk Jet]

13. Roof patch is the way to go for that.

Buy the fiberglass mesh like it says on the can.The stuff is designed to cure that very type of problem.Seams,chimney's vents ,so fourth. It expands and contracts with the roof in all weather conditions. Wet dry patch is a temporary fix -buys you time until the weather is conducive for the appliance of the permanent patch.

The plasticoat is compatible with most any material.Well worth the ten or fifteen bucks a can and the five or seven fer the fiberglass mesh.