Care and *feeding* of a torchdown flatroof
My somewhat new house to me *4 years of ownership* has a flat roof.
It was redone by the previous owner around 20 years ago with what appears to be the torchdown rubber material. What is the proper care of this type of roof ? Looks to have been *painted* some time ago with the aluminized type of material which is showing some minor cracks.
Planning to rinse/sweep clean my roof and reapply the aliuminum roof coating.
Does it make any difference if I do it on a *extremely hot day* as opposed to any day…meaning will the product take better on a hot day. Can’t seem to find a definitive answer on what is the best ~reflective~ topcoat for a rubber torchdown room.
In my research, the aluminum coating is not what should be used on a torchdown rubber roof ? Some area of the roof where the aluminum is looks *dry and starting to crack. I assume regardless of whatever base layer I put on top, if the undercoating is loose, I would just be wasting my money on a toplayer which will come off as well ?
Replies
OK - you've either got a torchdown roof (modified bitumen) or a rubber roof (epdm, tpo, pvc). Until we know which it really is, it's hard to answer. If it's cracking, it's likely, but not positively, modified bitumen, There are a variety of coatings for different membranes and your roof may well bear another coat for more years of service.
If it is indeed MB, then one can torch a patch over the bad spots if they're few and small. There are also cold process patch compounds available. Almost none of the products you need are available at the big box stores. You'll need to visit a roof supply store.
Here's some info on different patch/coating options:
http://www.henry.com/Modified_Bitumen.222.0.html
And if it's aluminum paint over rubber, it's probably just the aluminum paint cracking.