The best flat roof roofing material is without a doubt a single 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 the two, and if you are renewing your flat roof anyway you may as well take the chance of renewing that simultaneously.
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 popular material for a new flat roof was bituminous felt laid in three layers, the initial layer nailed down and top of the two bonded to the main one beneath with mastic bitumen. With respect to the material used, this may mean heating a good bitumen-based compound to make it liquid, and then pouring it onto the underlying felt and spreading it evenly on the whole section of the roof.
Then you had to wait for the compound to cool before applying the next layer, and at the end spreading a layer of stone chippings over the roof and bonding it with a chipping compound, this being to reflect the sun’s rays and stop the felt and bitumen degrading quickly.
This was altogether a rather messy, complicated and time-consuming job best left to the professionals. In addition, there were several stages where it had been very easy to neglect to make the roof weather-proof, e.g. where in fact 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 might be very difficult and messy to learn wherever the rain was getting back in. Seldom would Beyond the Initial Cost of the leak on the ceiling of the area below be directly below the foundation of it. Water could get through a weakness in the bitumen felt and travel along a rafter before descending to the ceiling board below.
The new generation of rubber-based flat roofing systems are far superior. For those who have reasonable DIY abilities then you can certainly probably do-it-yourself, with one other person to assist. You can easily look for a local supplier of rubber flat roof roofing material online, and the existing price is around �6.65 per square metre.
Most suppliers slice the material to the exact size and shape that you require so are there no unnecessary joins, meaning no weaknesses and an exceptionally long-lasting, leak-proof roof.
The vital part of the whole process is to ensure 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’s important to run the rubber material up and under the tiles or slates of the adjoining pitch roof so that any rain dripping from the lower-most row falls onto the rubber, with no possibility of it over-lapping the edge and getting underneath the pitch roof.
Also, make sure that the existing slope of the flat roof towards the guttering or other means 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 whole of the underneath of the rubber in order to avoid bumps in the surface which could obstruct the drainage of the water away.
Rubber roofs have been proven to last for well over 50 years under all weathers, so that it really is the only flat roof roofing material that you should consider when deciding on a fresh flat roof.
