Leaking EPDM rubber flat roof

My guess is that this roof wasn't laid by specialists trained in EPDM rubber roofing materials. The quality of the workmanship is very poor, and EPDM will get a bad image if untrained people are allowed to carry on purchasing and installing this excellent material incorrectly. It was found that the problem on this roof was the leak from the slates at the back of the tiles and not the Rubber roof at all. The water now trapped in the roof will possibly make the decking rot over time, and then the customer will be in for another large expense.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• business
• Flat
• roof
• leak
• leaking
• new
• felt
• tiles
• rain
• water
• lead
• zinc
• firestone
• mineral
• Kingspan
• insulation
• hips
• Kemper
• epdm
• flat
• repairs
• decking
• flashings
• box
• gutter
• guttering
• fascias
• rotted
• timber
• solar
• reflective
• green
• gardens
• treelike
• UV
• protection
• heating
• panels
• liquid
• plastic
• rubber
• torch
• on
• asphalt

[MrLukereade]

Rubber bond only sale to fully trained installer other company will sale to any cowboy.I fit rubber for a living myself Hate it when these cowboys.mess up a nice Little job like that

[stevewater]

Yes thanks for the i was first trained with rubber bond and yes it is a good system but its expensive compared to all the other epdm rubber roofing systems on the market.

The roofings that installed this EPDM were not trained in anything but the rodio.

Whats your opinion about laying EPDM rubber directly over mineral felt or even asphalt?

[Basard100]

either that,or condensation....

[stevewater]

This will not be condensation as the due point will be much lower into the roof the age of the property means that Part L of the building regulations would have applied back around 1990 when this roof construction was build they were using around 50mm of insulation and forming warm roofs

[majorgfx]

roofingwarehouse.co.uk - Firestone EPDM

[Basard100]

@stevewater A roof vent might help dry it up. Sounds like your reroofed it already anyways, eh?

I hate when people just fly a new roof over the old one, right on top of the old soggy roof.

We've got a nigtmare of a roof on top of our apartment building, my landlord had me go up there and circle all the bad spots--I ran out of chalk before I could finish! No seem tape, just black glue. No termination bar either, a damn mess. All on top of an old asphalt roof. Screws poppin up everywhere.

[stevewater]

Yes the water could have been locked into the roof, recently I removed a 3 yer old roof and the roof insulation was completely saturated EPDM is gas permeable however the amount of gas that transfers through the single ply membrane is so small its irrelevant

[bellalush]

Thats a do it yourself job for sure. And done by a real idiot if you ask me. I am not a professional by any stretch of the imagination but even I would have paid more attention to detail than the bloke who rolled that roof. LOL

[Basard100]

@Xeidasx ya dude, newb roofers... give em a journeyman license.... they have 10000 hours, why not, they are idiots.....

[Xeidasx]

@Basard100 could be an over the top of tar and gravel and the leaks from the tar and gravel were never resolved (removing dampen roof and replaced with dry insulation and 2 ply torch patch) these s.o.b epdm roofs get hot and boy will that draw up the water quick

[Xeidasx]

@RoofSmart ya it belongs in some parts of the world and not others, it all comes down to what the owners/comtractors want to pay and we all know labour/time is the most expensive part of the job. A ballasted system lasts years here in vancouver b.c Ive seen all sorts of leaks in my time mostly human error but ive also seen 20 year epdm roofs still going strong except the seams wear down as the black glue and caulking days are of the past