There's a hole in my roof and it's letting in water!

[MG01]

Hi Guys,

I have a flat roof over my kitchen/bathroom extension to the house I just bought - it was built in the early '90s and it leaks.
When we bought the place we could see that there was damage to the plasterwork but over the last day or two with the heavy driving rain it's slowly starting to drip through.

Not having the most amount of cash available for repairs I was wondering how I might go about fixing this?

Is it possible to tar over the roof again and let it dry out from the inside and then re-plaster, or should we seek to do a more long term job and lay a waterproof membrane, lap it and re-tar / felt the roof?

Any advice on short / long term solutions welcome, especially advice on how to do it yourself...or recommendations for roofers.

the area of roof is quite small - about 3.5m X 2m.

Thanks in advance

 

[Carpenter]

The problem with trying to repair flat roofs is actually locating the source of the leak. The water may enter at one point and track along before it finally makes it's way through the structure. You can try and do a quick patch with one of those "Thompson's" type repair paints but these are only designed for emergency repairs and help to minimise water damage until a proper re-roofing job is done. You probably won't get any (reputable at least) to look at it before Christmas so your best bet may be to patch it and get a few quotes to have the roof re-done professionally. When doing this you should consider incorporating a rooflight, if you don't already have one in the roof. Most torch-on and single ply membranes only have a lifespan of 15 years, if well executed, a lot less if poorly done.

 

[bskinti]

Most torch-on and single ply membranes only have a lifespan of 15 years, if well executed, a lot less if poorly done.

Sorry Carpenter but I beg to differ, I would say that most single ply membranes will last 25 years +. I have never had one break down and I'm roofing now for over 25 years, as a matter of fact you can get a 20 year guarantee on most single ply's and you won't get that on many other materials, Ever wondered why so many industrial and large scale buildings use this type of roof or are they just that stupid to throw their money away for a 10 to 15 year roof, I will agree with you regarding workmanship and the old green mineral felt which is on everyones house, if it lasted 10 years it would be time to change it, It sure gave the flat roof a bad name

 

[bskinti]

Oh MG01 I agree with Carpenter for your quick fix, get a tin of felt fix and just paint it on, if you can find where the leak is, the easiest time to find the leak is in sunshine when the roof is dry, I would roll the joints or all the roof with a small hard roller, We use electronic testing but you will get a new roof for the price of the test, And be careful up on your roof it may be rotten where its wet.

 

[Carpenter]

Sorry Carpenter but I beg to differ, I would say that most single ply membranes will last 25 years +. I have never had one break down and I'm roofing now for over 25 years, as a matter of fact you can get a 20 year guarantee on most single ply's and you won't get that on many other materials, Ever wondered why so many industrial and large scale buildings use this type of roof or are they just that stupid to throw their money away for a 10 to 15 year roof, I will agree with you regarding workmanship and the old green mineral felt which is on everyones house, if it lasted 10 years it would be time to change it, It sure gave the flat roof a bad name

When I referred to a 15 year life I was talking mainly about the sort of products that are used on domestic extensions, like butyl rubber, torch-on, mineral felt etc. I know that the top class products like Imper torch on, Sika Trocal, Sarnafil etc come with an insurance backed guranteed and will certainly last 20 years and more. The big difference is that these products are laid by registered installers only whereas the flat roof extension is probably not laid by personnel with the same skill, training or understanding of the material. I have no problems with flat roofs- when the design is good and the workmanhip equally good.