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Roofing

EDPM roof pooling and rain running onto the building - is this acceptable?

Anonymous user 03/03/2024 - 3.19 PM

I moved into a house which had just had a new EDPM flat roof installed and the 10 year guarantee passed to me with the deeds. I noticed that water was running down the side of the wall in streaks and that there was pooling on the roof many days after. There are two issues I raised with the roofer and I wasn't satisfied with his response. I'm not very knowledgable about roofing so I wonder if you can help. Pooling: The roof in the most part drains ok but it pools around the hopper outlet. It's pretty obvious that the the rubber is not suck down properly here and when i press it down with my hand the whole roof starts draining. The roofer said that pooling was a good sign as it shows the roof is water tight but it clearly isn't good because it's already causing algae and vegetation to grow. It's an uninsulated roof (against the building regs!) and so evaporation of the water will take heat away from the building and well... it can't be right! I uploaded a video to make it clearer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EgISEu0XGKI&feature=youtu.be Secondly the edge trim is attached to the side on some extra up-stands (wooden batons). However the angle formed by the upstands means that water which falls directly on the trim runs towards the seal rather than towards the roof. The roofer basically formed a groove for the water to collect. The seal is saturated with water and appears to be breaking down and I think water is draining through the seal down the back plate and onto the wall (the backplate is not far enough from the wall for water to clear it). Then there's the junction to the pitched roof : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xueJDxJCstE I'd like to work with this local roofer to improve the issues but I don't want to be fobbed off. I think all the above are serious issues but he says it was all done to manufacturers specification. I'd be interested to know what you think of the above defects and if they are fixable or are we looking at a new roof. He was a member of a federation but they haven't been helpful as he stopped paying his fees a few months after doing or roof.

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2 Answers

A&J Surveyors Ltd

Rating: 5 out of 5

Newent

Many new guys think they are good Roofer’s because they can stick a piece of rubber onto an old deck - you can see by the detailing where your fingers go in that this is shoddy workmanship. I agree with the first chap regarding ponding and it may be due to the original budget (not allowing for better falls). If you have radiators under this roof then ideally it should have been an unventilated warm flat roof and not a cold roof......depends on the budget and what was agreed in the contract. Regards Drew @ Fibretechs Flat Roofing (Gloucesterhire & Herefordshire)

Answered7 December 2018

Nico roofing and building

Rating: 5 out of 5

Middle Park, London

The pooling just before the hopper it is a common issue on flat roofs, with any kind of system you use, because in that edge there are always more layers of material used. The inexperienced roofer (or lazy) doesn't worry about it and so the water will always pool a few millimeters, before to eventually fall in the hopper(In your case i would say more than a few mill.) What should have been done is to plane a few mill the board underneath to allow the extra layers of materials in that specific edge to be at level with the roof surfaces and not creating that little step. Regarding the other video there is not much i can see, so i won't say much but it seems like they just tuck in the rubber with their fist under the tiles, same as when you place tarpaulin to cover an exposed roof on a rainy day and, finger crossed, you hope no water would come in...

Answered5 December 2018