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Ok, I have a 90-yo house (maybe more, no one’s sure). It’s a near flat roof, 1″ in 20″ pitch. All four sides have short stub walls rising above it, and the drain is through the back wall.
Well, I installed a skylight in the bathroom, and what I found was:
5-6 inches of built-up roofing, cracked, crumbling, and wet almost all the way through. This despite a “new” roof placed over the other layers a short two years ago. And the damn thing is HOT, and holds the heat all night as well, radiating it down into the house.
So in my mind it’s definitely time to tear off the old roof, back down to the boards, and lay a new one. I’m a DIYer although years ago I used to be a framing carpenter (and a hot-roofer, too), so I’m looking for something I can tackle myself and will last a long long time. I’m not particularly keen on built-up hot roofing again.
Where do I find out more about EPDM, and is it something I can do myself? Or hypalon? Has anyone have any experience with elastomeric roof coatings? Could I use metal or plastic panelling?
Thanks in advance for any suggestions.
Replies
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Frank if it were me I would put some pitch on your roof . Couldn't you anchor plates to the the stub walls and install trusses or stick frame it ??? How big is this roof and what part of the country are you in ??? I am not a fan of flat roofs on residential structures where they are usually unessecary . Is your AC unit or other mechanical units on this roof ???
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I'd love to put at least a partial pitched roof on top of the flat, but I can't. It's a middle unit in a series of row houses (old style town-houses). I've already been told that the previous owner took it as far as trying to get a permit and was refused because of loading.
One advantage of a flat roof is that possibly I can put a garden up there... but first I have to remove 90 years of deterioated material and put something waterproof on. The main question is what to use since I'm not a fan of built-up.
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Frank , I dont have any experience with it but their is a contractor here who has a spray on urethane roofing [ simalar to expanding foam ] that is then coated with some kind of color coat for U V protection . The pros I can see are its light weight and high R value and it goes on very fast . Cons , it's probably not a DIY project . Might be somthing to think about . Chuck
*Frank,I've heard about what Chuck is talking about. Seems like I saw something about that on TOHouse.Wish you could put a pitched roof on it.At least a shed roof below the knee wall line.Ed. Williams
*Frank,A lot of houses in my old Albuquerque neighborhood had flat roofs and there was a trend to foam. It not only provides additional insullation it can also be "sculpted" to eliminate "puddles" and direct the water flow to drains. I did a quick search on "foam roofs" and got a number of hits. I suspect you are in the DC area (90 yr old row house, Erols e-mail). I did not see an East Coast vendor but these sort of systems are franchised. You should be able to track someone down in your area that does this kind of work.Tear off looks like a big job to me. If you have 6" of built up roofing materials to remove you are talking almost two cubic yards for every square. Are you sure you can do the tear off yourself, fix any decking problems you find, and get it weather tight before it rains. No matter what roofing system you use, EPDM or foam, this looks like a 100% contract-out job to me.Good luck,Steve
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Thanks for all the suggestions...
Good guess about Wash DC, but it's cental New Joisey... erols gets around.
An estimate for tear-off alone was $4000; my neighbor had theirs torn off and redone with built-up and it was $8000. For "just a roof" on a small house, that's painful.
The deck is good; it's 1x10 planks over 2x10 beams. There's huge gaps (up to 1/2 in) between some of the planks, they weren't that carefull. The beams are tied into the brick divider wall between the units - and tied to the beams of the units on either side! I sure hope there's never a fire... Because the wall is a single layer of brick, the local board won't allow even a small shed roof because of the wind-loading.
I don't think tear off will be that bad. Using an old saw to cut it into managable pieces and a shovel to pry it off shouldn't take more than a day.
I thought about metal sheeting but decided against it because of the parapets - sure to leak at the junctures. So I figured I'd put down either osb or 1/4 inch plywood over the old boards, just so I don't have any gaps. The big question is what to cover it with then?
I can manage a built-up roof with just myself and a helper, but wanted something that would last longer.
I've looked at the foam and SYP (?) method and it's definitely not DIY. It looks very intersting though.
I don't know enough about sheet products such as hypalon to guess whether I can obtain it or apply it myself.
Most of the elastomeric coatings seem to be meant for application over existing roofs... and seem to run about $50 per gallon (abput 40-50 sq feet each gallon)
So if anyone has any practical experience, or knows of a product, well I'm all ears!
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Frank: One product you might want to take a look at is modified bitumen. If you are not familiar with this it is a single ply system that looks like built-up when it is in place. The product comes in a roll like felt but it is about 3/16" to 1/4" thick. It can be moped, torched or glued down. Most of the roofers in our area do not like the torch down because the temp.is critical and with a torch it is hard to control and the danger of fire is very real. For small areas like yours you might consider glue down. An asphalt based ahesive is used. A base sheet is nailed to sound substrate and then the adhesive & modified is laid down. One layer is all. I will not go into all the details in this post. You can flash it like built-up. If you could find a supplier or roofer that would work with you the tapered insulation is an excellent idea.
We are seeing a lot of failures with other single ply systems. If you go that route do a lot of research into the product you choose. Select one that has a proven track record in your weather. (references that will show you the system in place for 10yr. or more)
Ron.
*I would like to see a completely adhered seamless rubber on this job but i don't think it is a first time DIY experience with the walls taken into account.Given your previous experience the modified bitumen might be a good fit for you.It now comes as a prodduct that can be installed with a similar technique to ice gaurd( with backing paper).No need for a torch although the same product is also torchable.Check it out,Stephen
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Thanks - I saw some information about modified bitumen (was called something else) but wasn't sure what it was or how long it would last.
If I go this route, how about using an acrylic/elastomeric paintable coating? Is it compatible? Does it last long? Would it extend roof life?
Thanks,
Frank
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Ok, I have a 90-yo house (maybe more, no one's sure). It's a near flat roof, 1" in 20" pitch. All four sides have short stub walls rising above it, and the drain is through the back wall.
Well, I installed a skylight in the bathroom, and what I found was:
5-6 inches of built-up roofing, cracked, crumbling, and wet almost all the way through. This despite a "new" roof placed over the other layers a short two years ago. And the damn thing is HOT, and holds the heat all night as well, radiating it down into the house.
So in my mind it's definitely time to tear off the old roof, back down to the boards, and lay a new one. I'm a DIYer although years ago I used to be a framing carpenter (and a hot-roofer, too), so I'm looking for something I can tackle myself and will last a long long time. I'm not particularly keen on built-up hot roofing again.
Where do I find out more about EPDM, and is it something I can do myself? Or hypalon? Has anyone have any experience with elastomeric roof coatings? Could I use metal or plastic panelling?
Thanks in advance for any suggestions.