Plumber Contractors Birmingham, Alabama
It needs just a common sense to realize, that flat roofs are much more effected with the unpleasant weather such as raining following by freezing or snowing. Because of this, still a lot of people are a bit afraid of flat roofs in comparison of going for the slope one. Luckily enough, thanks to the modern materials using for putting down the flat roof, the statistics are showing big increase in last 10 years in building the houses with flat roofs. The warranties of sloped and flat roofs are becoming almost equal.
With the good care and the right choice of quality materials the flat roof will last you for ages, it is watertight so it will not cause any damage indoor – leakage etc. You need to seal the roof with a glued EPDM rubber membrane which is very light and doesn't require any exceptional skill and equipment. An average handyman should be able to put down the roof on his own house himself. Let us tell you something more about the whole process.
1. Roof needs to be framed
The name flat roof is a bit misleading – it is not really flat to prevent water to stay on the surface and create inevitable puddles which can cause damage indoor. Always make sure the roof is a bit inclined – around 1/8 inches per foot. It can also be sloped in few different directions, mostly towards water spouts. You can create the incline either with using foam underlayment or, if the area to be built is not too large, use the wooden wedges that you nail to the roof support. These are usually bigger and put closer to each other then on sloped roof.
2. Plywood covering
While placing the plywood on the framing of the roof, do not forget to leave a gap between all the joints. These will allow the roof 'to breathe'.
3. Fixing the underlayment
When using the sheet-rubber roofing material, you need to first put down so called ISO board – it is ½ inch thick foam with a special fibreglass backing. To make desired size and shape you can use ordinary knife and fix it to the plywood covering with screws and steel washers. This way you achieve the perfect base for the rubber sheets.
As the ISO board doesn't expand or shrink you need to fix it precisely and tightly to each other.
4. Slanted corners
There is a short wall lining flat roofs – the rubber roof will need to be go up this wall and be glued to the covering. To prevent the water to stay in the corners, you need to fix a 45 degree wedge and screw it between the roof and the wall to create smooth transition.
5. Clear and dry-fit the roof
Make sure you remove all little bits from the roof before you put the new one. Any tiny piece could pierce it damage the whole work.
When you cut EPDM, make sure the piece is big enough (few inches plus) to cover the roof properly. The EPDM is easy to cut with any ordinary knife. Small roofs require only 1 sheet, bigger once you need to overlap sections of abt 10 inches, but glue them right at the end. If there is a breather pipe, you need to make a hole in the EPDM – big enough to be able to slide it over the chimney.
6. Gluing the rubber
Spread the glue all over the part of ISO board and the respective plate of rubber which you are going to put down. It is quite handy to use the paint roller and a long pole for glue application. The glue is working like contact cement so that it bonds instantly. Make sure you spread the rubber evenly to avoid the air bubbles and humps. Part by part you finish the whole area, going over the edges slightly and also on the parapet. Be careful how you put the rubber as you can only glue it once. You cannot move it around in case of inaccurate placing. All the seems should be cleaned first with a special cleaning product and then rubber to rubber glue applied and a stripe of uncured rubber (the rubber without 'the memory') to be put on the seam the end.
7. Edges
The seams that appear after overlapping EPDM in the inside corners also need to be sealed with raw rubber. The sections on the walls should be fitted with metal brackets – so called termination stops. Then the extra parts need to be removed. To seal the brackets, use tripolymer caulk. On the edges of the roof you need to use galvanized drip edge which is specially made for flat roof. It can be used on any type of roof and you can choose from variety of colours. Once this is fixed and ready so the roof is.
