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Water proof upper deck to walk on

trollman | Posted in Construction Techniques on October 20, 2007 05:59am

Hello,

I am replacing the floor in a small upper porch. ( 10′ x 3′).   The rubber roofing failed around a post.   The floor consists of 3/4 plywood on 2x10s, 16″ on center.  I have removed the rotten part of the plywood and will replace the one post, the remaining porch floor and railing are in good shape. 

The porch gets walked on and has a small table and chairs on it.  I do beleive that rubber roofing should not be used where it gets walked on.  The Lady wants it repaired long term and does want to use the porch.  Decking over a roofing membrain is what I’m thinking and fine by her.   I do not know what the best membrain to use? 

The roof is rectanglar and has three posts on the outer one edge.  The side railing gets attached to 2x4s mounted onto the wall.  The roof sloops down on the sides behind the railings.  I thought I would need to remove the railings in order to get around the posts.

I have used a very thick 1/4 ” tar roofing material thats 36″ wide and it gets melted and then pressed down.  Sorry, I do not know the name.  It is made for flat- low sloping roofs.

The porch doesn’t have a slope all the way to the edge of the floor therefore a small amount of water does puddle in the middle of the porch. 

Thank you.

 

Reply

Replies

  1. BillBrennen | Oct 20, 2007 09:11pm | #1

    The system I have used and like the best is the "Excel-Coat Fire System" from http://excellentcoatings.com/ This system is designed to be a primary walk surface with nothing on top of it. I like it so much that I'll use it where traffic is not anticipated, if the budget allows it. I plan to redo my 1/4" per foot roof with this in the next year. It is easy to inspect and easy to maintain or repair, plus it is tough, resisting hail, critters, etc. It also is easy to wash clean with a hose, provided it drains correctly.

    This system uses a base layer of modified mortar over diamond lath, followed by a nonwoven scrim layer impregnated on site with a runny waterproofing acrylic, followed by a sanded traction layer and several coats of unsanded topcoat.

    Ponding is well-tolerated by the system but the mortar layer allows you to float the base so ponding does not occur. If you are where it freezes, then ponding is really dangerous to the occupant.

    Because the components are crosslinked latex coatings, this is not a good system to apply in cold weather as it takes too long to dry in the cold. Once cured it tolerates heat and cold just fine. The company has full downloadable directions on their site.

    Bill

    1. trollman | Oct 21, 2007 06:55am | #2

      Sounds like what I am looking for.  How is the transition between the coating and other surfaces.  ect. railing post and bottom of door threshold. 

      Thank you much!

      1. BillBrennen | Oct 21, 2007 10:05am | #4

        Trollman,The system I use is a little different from what Pete describes in his thread, but fundamentally they are the same, with very similar transition details. In general you want metal flashing behind the membrane at any sudden change of plane. I used a tooled 3/4" cove to transition between a deck slab and stuccoed Rastra wall, and it has not moved or cracked in 4 years. Over wood transitions I would never trust such a stunt, however.One great thing about these systems is that the thin reinforced polymer mortar bed gives great puncture resistance and also cracking resistance to the waterproofing that goes over top of it.Bill

    2. Robrehm | Oct 23, 2007 12:52am | #8

      You might also chaeck out Duradek. I did a hotel deck over 10 years ago that gets golf spike traffic & it still looks good & dosne't leak.

  2. peteshlagor | Oct 21, 2007 07:55am | #3

    http://forums.taunton.com/tp-breaktime/messages?msg=91581.1

     

    1. Jim_Allen | Oct 22, 2007 07:03pm | #5

      Nice Thread Pete. I'm pretty sure I'll be referring to it in the near future.How well is the top holding up so far?fka (formerly known as) blue

      1. peteshlagor | Oct 22, 2007 11:28pm | #7

        Absolutely fine.  Even the new puppies pizz has no effect.

         

  3. Piffin | Oct 22, 2007 07:15pm | #6

    Regardless of what you use, since you are totally re-=doing it, you can provide taper so it will drain. NO roof material has a good warrantee where water puddles, but if you have to have puddling, EPDM is the best bet. From your description, the EPDM did not fail. It was the method of attachment and flashing, or lack thereof that failed.

    The material you describe is called modified bitumen. The torch down process means you would need some pretty pricey insurance to use that torch near the three side walls without burning the house down.

     

     

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