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Flat Roof Help

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  • 14-08-2023 7:54pm
    #1
    pennypacker
    Registered Users Posts: 26 ✭


    Hello folks, roof installed in 2018 continues to leak. Here's the bullet points

    - flat roof installed apr 2018 paralon modified bitumen, standard suburban Dublin semi-detached

    - new roof was built on top of the old roof, roofer claimed 'the construction of joists were bolted on' (paraphrasing) so removing was too risky

    - continued to leak sporadically (didn't start leaking again until september 2018)

    - roofer came out three times with the last time in Dec 2018, and then stopped responding

    - saw him in public so confronted him, he said it was the neighbors 'parapet' that was the source and he stands by his roof (this was march 2019)

    I went up on the roof a couple of days ago and part of the roof felt softer, parts in a more central area away from the neighbors. My question would be does this show the 'new' roof is definitely compromised as opposed to coming from the neighbors. Originally when he was trying to figure out the issue back in 2018 the roofer said the water must be 'getting in under their system', but if that is the case then no part of the 'new' roof should feel soft under foot?


    Thanks for any help



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    #2
    10-10-20
    Registered Users Posts: 6,945 ✭✭✭10-10-20


    Hi! Generally if the roof feels soft in areas then that's an indication that either there has been moisture ingress (leak) or condensation on the underside. Condensation is an important factor to understand as it's not specifically a leak, but is down to the roof design or the use of the room below. There are also two types of flat roof - warm and cold, each has it's own nuances and weaknesses.

    To investigate this you would need to have a third-party roofer open panels in the roof, either from on top or maybe below, to review the state of the layers.

    Steve Roofer does very educational videos on how this is best investigated and treated:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5HiLAr-bW6A
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t6WO-Yw8riI




  • Options
    #3
    pennypacker
    Registered Users Posts: 26 ✭pennypacker


    https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120978355#Comment_120978355

    Thanks for the reply and the video links, looks like a whole heap of trouble.

    I don't know if it's warm or cold roof or any of that. They put boards down spanning over the old roof and then put the the roof layers onto that. Over the last 5 years the roof has sporadically leaked and on one single occasion litres of water came in. Could condensation leak create that volume of water?

    In your opinion is that indicative of the leak being the newer roof and not water getting in under it through the older leaking roof connected to the neighbors? My own logical view on it was that since there's a gap between the old roof and the new roof water can't be defying gravity to soften the layers of the newer roof above it via a leak in the older roof. Am I talking nonsense?

    Are you a roofer yourself? Any experience with a converted garage flat roof leaking due to the rain penetration of the semi detached adjoining wall?



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