Tips For Remedying A Flat Roof Leakage

I have learned from experience that finding a leak in a flat roof can be very difficult and expensive. In our home it took 3 different roofers, making multiple visits, to identify the place in our flat roof that a leak was coming from. The reason why identifying leaks in flat roofs is difficult is that very often the point where the leak shows in the ceiling below can be quite far away from the place at which the leak is occurring in the flat roof itself.

The first places to look for leaks on a flat roof are flashing or joints or seals of any kind. Now, flashings are the point at which the roof joins adjacent non-roofing material such as brickwork. As an example above our kitchen extension we have a parapet wall at one edge of the roof and flashing goes from the roof to the parapet wall.

As reported at flat roof company, a capable roofer will first examine these flashings to identify gaps through which water could possibly pass. Flashings are usually made of a metal material like lead.

It is also usually difficult to test for leaks on a flat roof in the way you would on other types of roofs. The reason is because it could take hours for water to trickle down to the ceiling from the moment you pour it on a suspect area on the roof. This means that in practical reality it's rather hard to test and then track multiple suspect places. This is covered in more detail at the epdm roof site.

The key to effective flat roof repair is to know in advance the areas most likely to be susceptible to leaks. The best test alas is to carry out the work to close suspect gaps and then wait to see if the leak persists. So flat roof repair depends greatly on the intelligence, honesty and experience of the roofer you hire.