Does your flat roof leak and needs immediate repair? If so, this flat roof repair guide is for you! But before you waste any money, consider all your options, listed bellow:

What you should do when your flat roof leaks:

First of all put up buckets to collect water, so the leak does not cause more damages than is already done. Once the dripping water is not causing any more damage to the interior, consider the following steps:

Step 1) If your roof is fairly new, call the roofing company that installed it and have them fix it.

Step 2) If it is an older roof, or the original installer will not fix it for some reason, you will have three options – either fix the roof your self, have a repair performed by a roofing contractor, specializing in flat roofs, or if your roof is near the end of its life, it is best to replace it, and not through any more money away, repairing it.

Step 3) To prevent more damages to your roof, interior of your home, or the inventory and the equipment of your business, it is a good idea to put up a tarp on you roof, until you choose a course of action – either fixing a roof your self or choosing a roofing contractor to repair or replace your roof.

Step 4) Estimate real cost to repair flat roof. Learn what’s involved, what hidden costs and fees there are and why we consider flat roof repair to be “sunk cost”. This comparison will help you decide if it is time to finally replace your flat roof, or if repair is a feasible option.

DIY Flat Roof Repair guides

Because of wide scope of flat roofing materials and different roof problems that cause leaks, it is virtually impossible to caver everything related to flat roof repair in one article. For your convinience, we have several DIY roof repair guides for specific flat roof type and specifice repair methods. This guides are easy to follow and are aimed at bothe home and business owners.

• Rubber roof repair – our original article about fixing EPDM rubber membrane roofs using “black glue” or rubber seams adhesive.
• EPDM Rubber peel & stick repair – Part II of rubber roof repair guide above, concentrating on the more advanced and more efficeint way to fix rubber roofs, using EPDM primer and Peel-n-Stick flashing and Seam tape, instead of just using glue.
• Tar & Gravel roof reapir – Learn how to detect and repair leaks in your Built-up or Tar-and-gravel roof, using inexpensive supplies from Home Depot, Lowe’s and other Home improvement stores.

What you should know about Flat Roof Repair, before you spend any money.

Flat roof reality check: Roof leak, is an inevitable outcome for 99% of flat roofs in service today. If you have a flat roof, chances are that it is already leaking or will begin to leak soon – even if your roof is fairly new and was installed within 5-10 years.

This article is an overview of issues related to flat roof leaks. Here we review the cost of flat roof repair, actions you should take to get your flat roof fixed, and outlook of what will happen after your roof is fixed.

Purpose of this Flat Roof Repair Guide, is to help you avoid the costly mistakes many home and business owners make, when their roof leaks, and also to help you choose the best solution for your particular roof and budget.

Note: Due to a wide variety of different flat roofing technologies, this
article cannot cover all aspects of flat roof repair. For specific DIY ways to repair your flat roof, refer to our Epdm or Rubber Roof repair and Tar roof repair How-To articles.

Stop before you waste any more money fixing your flat roof!

Whether your roof just started leaking or the water has been coming in for some time now, we recommend that you stop repairing it, read the article and make the smart choice.

Have you seen ads like this in the Yellow Pages, on the Web or stapled to a light pole?

Home Improvement Contractor

“XYZ Construction Company” proudly offers all services relating to home contracting. This includes, but is not limited to: Roofing, Commercial Roofing, Rubber Roofing, Flat roofing, Roof Repair, Siding, and Deck builders, Gutters, Additions, Dormers and Remodeling. All types of residential roofing – we fix it all!

Here is what happens when you have the “we do it all” roofers fix your flat roof:

As a result of unprofessional flat roof repair, the homeowner had to pay extra for the roof repairs, sheet rock replacement, painting and a deck repair. The longer you let the water to come it, the more repairs the will be.

General purpose roofing and home-improvement companies that offer roof installation and repair services may do a decent job foxing your regular, asphalt shingles roof. But when it comes to a flat roof, these folks, who “DO IT ALL”, will waste your money and your roof will still be leaking.

Why? – Answer is simple: Flat roofs are VERY different from pitched roofs and require professional to install and repair them. You want to work with a roofing contractor that specializes in Flat Roofs, and flat roofs ONLY. There are such contractors, but 99% of them only do commercial work. For residential market, there is not enough business to keep a crew busy with just flat roofing. That is why you see these “do-it-all” establishments.

Another thing to keep in mind is that there are more than a dozen different flat roofing product types which are often incompatible with each other. When a “do-it-all” company comes to fix your flat roof, chances are, they will use a “fix-it-all” solution for any roof – the roof cement. Well, there is a catch – roof cement is not compatible with black rubber (Epdm membrane). Once roof cement hardens, its expansion/contraction ratio is much smaller than that of rubber. As a result, the seal will break after just a few weeks, and your roof will leak yet again. This is just one example among many others.

One more example of neglecting the roof leaks can be seen here – total deterioration of roof deck:

These folks just neglected the fact of roof leaks and now over 25% of their 2×4 tong & grove decking is rotted and has to be replaced.

Do not let the “do-it-all” roofers profit at your expense!

What you need is a professional roofing contractor who specializes in Flat Roofs, and knows it well. You also want this contractor to install a quality flat roofing product with proven track-record.

We are such a contractor. We install just one product and we do it well! Our flat roofing product of choice is IB flat roof – a cool PVC single ply membrane that comes with Lifetime Residential and 25 years Commercial warranty. The performance of IB Roofs is unmatched by any other roof technology or manufacturer. The secret to such a performance is IB’s own formulation and hot-air welded seams that create a permanent bond between separate sheets of membrane.

We specialize in flat roofing installation and repair services for both Commercial flat roofing and Residential flat roofing customers and we know all the aspects of our flat roofing product.

The nature of Flat Roof Leaks

Flat roofs in New England have for decades posed problems for home and building owners. Harsh climate, outdated roofing technology, and very often – standing water, are the major factors affecting the lifetime and performance of flat roofs.

When your roof starts leaking, repair is the first option that comes to mind. Second, you begin to think about the costs of repair, and how to minimize them. Depending on severity of the leak these cost may be just a few hundred dollars, or few thousand of dollars. Here is why: When you begin to see stained ceiling in you bedroom, it is the last stage of the leak. It means that your roof has been leaking for some time now and finally after last heavy rain it showed up on that ceiling. It also means that water had to completely soak the insulation, roof deck and rafters before you could see it on the ceiling. So if you choose the cheapest and most common solution which is patching the flat roof, you will leave behind the moisture trapped under the under your roof. This will cause the rotting of your deck and rafters, since there is no way for that water to escape.

What happens if you ignore roof leaks for some time?

Once a flat roof starts leaking, the inside damages will span from stained ceilings in the best case scenario to thousands of dollars in damages. Falling sheet-rock, electrical system damages, popping hardwoods and destroyed carpets, damaged furniture and home goods; these are only some of the outcomes of those leaks. Patching these leaky roofs may seem like the best solution, and the cheapest way out, but in reality, it usually proves to be the worst solution. Consider the following: the cost of patching the roof + fixing whatever damages the leak caused to the interior. Then, in 3-9 months, depending on the type of roof covering and quality of the patch work (which by the way, no contractor will ever warranty or uphold), your roof starts leaking again -
maybe in the same place, maybe in a different one, but the process is irreversible. Patch is only a temporary fix and usually won’t last, the roof will keep on leaking, and every time you patch it, you through away your money.

Majority of flat roof systems were not ‘designed’ with repairs in mind – best you could do to repair a flat roof was to pour some tar on the leaky spot. In fact, tar was pretty much the only feasible option. Unfortunately, after a short period of time you had to fix it again, as tar would dry up, crack and let the water in. New leaks would form elsewhere. So it was a constant repair, until a new leak begins and more money is spent. Such repairs are a perfect example of sunk costs, which cannot be recovered, and the fix lasts only a short period of time. After a series of such repairs, the owner would get sick & tired of it, and get a ‘new’ roof. Maybe a different type of flat roof, which unfortunately had the same inherited problems as the old one, but carried a different name and was made of different materials. Seems like a very sad situation for somebody with such a roof, doesn’t it?

Many people are faced with a choice to either continue this cycle for the lack of other options, or to build a pitched frame roof with asphalt shingles on top of their flat roof and be done with it. However there are two problems involved here. First one – such an ‘upgrade’ is very costly and you would still have to re-shingle your roof every 12 to 15 years. The second one is more complex. While it might be pretty straight-forward process if you have a small, rectangular house, that is not always the case. Many houses have odd shapes, multiple levels and mixed pitched and flat roofs. Now, if you have a 200′ x 100′ factory, that task becomes extremely difficult to implement, and I will not even try to guess the costs involved.

The REAL cost of a flat roof repair:

Repairing a flat roof in Massachusetts can and often will cost more than you anticipate (In other parts of the country, market conditions may be different, but the following prices should be just about right). Let’s see what goes into the price of flat roof repair.

• First: is the cost of patching a flat roof – you can expect to spend anywhere from $300 to 500 or more. If some one offers you to fix a flat roof leak for less than $300, that person either desperately needs money or in not a Pro, and does not really know what is involved and what to do (unless all that has to be done is to apply s bead of caulking, something you – the homeowner can usually do yourself).
• Cost of interior repairs – fixing wet sheet-rock, painting ceiling, etc, – $250-400. If it’s just a stain on the ceiling, then you could pick up a can of white paint at Lowe’s or Home Depot and do it yourself.

Above, are your direct coats of flat roof repair. Let’s also consider the indirect cost, to which most people don’t
pay attention:

Cost of Your Time. When your roof starts leaking, you don’t usually wait until the weekend to take care of it. You grab a phone book and start calling local roofers, or someone in the trade, whom you know already. You set up earliest time for the roofer to look at it and give you the price. You may get a few more people too look at your roof leak, but since it is more of an emergency, you need to fix it fast. So you give the job to the first reasonable bidder. Unfortunately leaks usually start when it is least convenient – during the week, at night or when you are away. So now you have to take a day off at work to meet with the roofer- thus you use your sick or vacation day. If you make $20/hour, you just lost $160.

Lets do the math. I will be conservative and use the low numbers – so you are looking to spend at least $300+250+160 = $710 in direct and indirect sunk costs which you cannot recover. Keep in mind it is usually won’t be that cheap. You also get what you pay for. And when six month later your flat roof starts leaking again – double that $710.

Bottom line: Flat roof repairs are a waste of money. They last only a short time and are not covered under warranty. If you opt for a more expensive repair such as aluminum powder-based coating form Home Depot, you might face an issue of incompatibility, as well as others. In the end, when you finally decide that you are sick and tired of repairing your flat roof and wasting money, you may have spent as much as it would cost you to get a new IB Flat Roof. This is the what happened in our second Case Study. Replacing a flat roof is what we recommend 99% of the time.

But I cannot afford a new roof now…

Although there are different payment options, new IB Flat roof can be costly, and might not always be able to afford one. When that is the case, we recommend the following steps to minimize costs and aggravation.

• Only hire a roofing contractor – not a handy-man. You need a professional, who knows the aspects of flat roof repair, not a jack-of-all-trades.
• If you are not in a big rush and can wait a day or two, ask your friends and neighbors if they could recommend someone. See if there are flat roof houses nearby, and talk with the owner. They must have encountered a problem with their flat roof in the past.
• Use Angie’s List – people there discuss local service businesses, including roofers. Contractors have no say in what others write there, and cannon buy advertisements.
• Do not use referral services like Quality Smith or Service Magic, as contractors go to them when they cannot find any work – maybe due to bad reputation. Their so-called pre-screening is nothing more than obtaining a copy of Contractor’s License. All these companies really care about is getting paid – not your satisfaction. Contractors pay for these appointments anywhere from $35-75. That is how you get ‘free estimates from 3 contractors’.
• Finally, replace your flat roof as soon as you can afford it. Stop the endless repair cycle once and for all. Choose a new flat roof that you can trust – not the inferior, but cheaper option like Epdm rubber – which most roofers will offer you. For more information on different flat roof choices, visit our guide to Flat Roofing technology and see what your options are.

Do-It-Yourself Flat roof repair articles:

Rubber EPDM roof repair – Procedures involved in repair of Epdm rubber roofs. Solutions that should be use, that those you should avoid.

Tar & Gravel roof repair – Options that you have when you need
your Built-Up Roof fixed.

Single-Ply Flat Roofing – Stop repairing you old flat roof that has exceeded its service life, and wasting your money. Learn about Single-Ply – roofing technology of the future.

IB PVC roof – Finally, there is a solution to the endless repair cycle, and it has been around since 1978 with a proven track record of zero material failure and leak-free service for 30 years.

Case study: how IB roof eliminates a constant repair cycle.

Case One: Home-owner’s struggle with a 1 year old Epdm rubber roof.

In October of 2006 we received a call from a homeowner living on the East Side of Providence. We had just completed a flat roof near the Miriam Hospital, and the person calling us happened to live in the same neighborhood. We scheduled an appointment with them and at the meeting the said that they just had a new roof installed a year ago. However this new roof was leaking like a sieve and they actually had to remove a skylight to get rid of the major leaks. It did not eliminate their
problems though, as there were other leaks here and there – mainly around a hot-stack pipe.

After thoroughly examining their roof we came to a conclusion that repairing the roof was not an options as the system installed there was not up to the job. First, due to the roof’s shape, two large puddles of ponding water would form in the center of the roof, including the spot where a badly leaking sky-light once was. The Epdm rubber was not designed to withstand the ponding water accumulating on the roof, and the water was slowly coming inside the house. Second problem was the mentioned above round-shaped hot-stack pipe that was patched a number of times, and was still leaking.

50-mil white IB roof was chosen to replace this nearly new, yet badly-leaking rubber roof. With IB’s pre-made pipe flashings, the leaks around hot stack pipe were eliminated. The ponding water was no longer an issue, as hot-air welded seams created a permanent, water-tight protection for this roof. The cool roof properties also made this house more energy-efficient than before. In the end, the customer finally eliminated all their roofing headaches and is now covered by the best roof and the best life-time residential warranty. You can find more photographs of this roof here: Flat roof in Providence, RI.