Flat Roofs

If you would like further advice on roofs, roof problems, roof repairs, roof materials , commercial surveys, building surveys, structural reports, engineers reports, specific defects report, structural surveys, home buyers reports or any other property matters then please phone 0800 298 5424 for a friendly chat.

Types of roof problems

Roof problems fall into two categories: repairable and replacement needed and roofs themselves fall into two categories: pitched and flat (please see our articles on common and not so common pitched roofs).

Flat roofs

Five main types of flat roofs:

•  Asphalt

•  Mineral felt roof

•  Mono-ply roof

•  Corrugated sheeting – asbestos - metal

•  Inverted roof

 

Asphalt

In our experience this is by far the best of all the flat roof materials we have come across, although it does need a good decking, something that's very often missing. It is a very solid tarmac based product that is said to offer a life of 25 years plus. It is by far the best of all the flat roof materials. It has the occasional blister/bubble that will need repair and sometimes it suffers from crocodile cracking. Crazing or crocodiling to the surface is another sign that it is deteriorating.

Asphalt Roof

 

Solar paint or not?

Although we have seen many roofs without solar paint we would recommend that it be added. This is to help reflect the heat of the hottest parts of the day, particularly in the summer time, when deterioration and damage would occur to the top of the surface if the reflective coat wasn't in place. If you do have a reflective coat you need to keep this in good order, if you don't you need to ask the contractor why and if there is no good reason we recommend you add one.

We would always recommend walkways on roofs

As an aside that came to mind when we were considering the different types of roofs, we would always recommend that a walkway be placed on a roof, particularly a roof that is going to be accessed a great deal. It may sound strange if you have a residential house, but if you have a commercial property with, say, air conditioning units on top of it and a plant room, for example for lifts and water tanks, etc, then there is quite a lot (relatively speaking) of trades people visiting the roof, all of which can damage it. Therefore, we strongly recommend a walkway.

Mineral felt roofs

Often flat roofs are associated with roof problems. Over the years we have seen the quality of the materials improve. We would comment that, in our experience, many flat roof problems are caused equally by poor workmanship or poor design or detailing, rather than the materials themselves. However, deterioration can occur to the felt due to sunlight, excessive ponding (water sitting on the roof), general freeze/thaw action, gradual wind and driving rain erosion, the list is almost endless. At the end of the day you need to have someone look at the roof as an impartial view and is not just trying to get some work from you.

Mineral Roof

 

Mono-ply roofs

Mono-ply Roof Covering	Felt roof with ponding

Corrugated sheeting

We sometimes come across this in residential situations, for example used for garage roofs, etc, but most frequently it is used on commercial properties, again particularly industrial units. If you come across problems with this and with asbestos cement with fixing deterioration, or damage where the sheets have been cut and metal exposed (it is normally covered by a protective plastic layer and this can rust).

Corrugated metal sheeting

Asbestos cement sheets

On domestic properties it is often used on extensions or pre-fabricated garage units. It was very common in the 1960's and, to some extent, in the 1970's. It was only relatively recently banned for health reasons. In the commercial market it was used predominantly on industrial buildings for their roofs. Please see our specific article on this:

www.1stassociated.co.uk/definitions_external_asbestos.asp.

If you are thinking about carrying out any work you do need to get independent specialist advice.

Flat roofs and handrails

Where work has been carried out on flat roofs there should be a handrail to stop them from falling off and also a kicker board to stop anything from being kicked off the roof. On larger and higher roofs it is recommended that all operatives are secured in and it becomes much more like a mountain climbing operation than a building operation! Where you have large areas of flat roofing, particularly in the commercial sector where it is going to be visited, you will need to put handrails around it to give safe access to any plant, etc, that needs to be maintained.

Inverted Roof

 

How do I repair my roof?

How do I find a good roofer?

This probably has to be equivalent to the “how long is a piece of string” question. First we would say you need to ensure that whoever you use has your best interest at heart rather than their best interest and that they are not simply trying to sell you the most profitable solution to them. Word of mouth is a great way of finding good builders but do be aware that often word of mouth recommendations come via someone who doesn't have any experience or expertise or working with builders.

Therefore the reasons for their word of mouth could be that the builder turned up on the day that he said he would, finished the job on the day that he said he would and charged the price he said he would, which ironically can be a good recommendation, but not if the work carried out was technically wrong or of poor quality. You should also take great care if your property is an old property as it could be a Listed Building or in a conservation area or simply need a builder that knows how to deal with older properties.

Equally, a newer property also has to be dealt with in an appropriate manner, so the experience the builder has is very important. We have developed a specific defects report for looking at a specific problem, such as chimneys on your property. These originally developed from our engineers report that specifically looked at structural cracks in properties, which then moved onto us giving specific advice on dampness in properties, due to many contracts being involved in this industry simply being there to sell a product rather than to give you best advice.

If you truly do want an independent expert opinion from a chartered surveyor, and many of us are also chartered builders, with regard to chimneys, roof problems, roof repairs, roof materials or any other matters please contact 0800 298 5424 for a chartered surveyor to give you a call back.

Access requirements

It is very, very likely that on a re-roof or a major repair scaffolding will be required. Scaffolding is not cheap and you will also have to make the decision as to whether a roof is put over the top of the scaffolding in case it rains or there is inclement weather during the course of the repair or renewal work to the roof. Please see our article on scaffolding.

Work carried off long ladders and crawler boards

In years gone by most roofing work would be carried out off long ladders and crawler boards. This simply wasn't safe then and is certainly not safe now. A good contractor will insist upon a scaffolding to work from, even where the site is difficult, for example where there is a shop front that you have to work around, there are scaffolding solutions. In that instance using a unitary scaffold. Some people use unitary scaffolds all the time as it saves them time, but we certainly would not recommend crawler boards and a ladder.

If you would like help and advise with regard to roofs, roof problems, roof repairs, roof materials or any other matters please call 0800 298 5424 for a friendly chat. Please note we are independent chartered surveyors.

If you have a commercial or leasehold property and would like Dilaps Help then please visit our www.DilapsHelp.com website and for Disputes go to our Disputes Help site www.DisputesHelp.com .

We hope you found the article of use and if you have any experiences that you feel should be added to this article that would benefit others, or you feel that some of the information that we have put is wrong then please do not hesitate to contact us (we are only human).

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Roof Problems and Information

Common Pitched Roofs

Not So Common Pitched Roofs