Flat Copper Roofing – Newton MA

In July of 2010 we installed a new IB PVC flat roofing system with custom-made copper drip edge metal, on a new construction home in Newton, Massachusetts. This house is located around the corner from Newton Center.

In this job profile we will demonstrate all stages of this roof installation, and show the new Copper Drip Edge, which IB roof systems has recently introduced and made available to its certified roofing contractors.

First, let’s go over the roof specs and details. The building on which the roof was installed is an new construction garage / guest house with two car bays on the first floor and guest rooms with a balcony / deck on the second floor. Because of height limitations in Newton, MA, the top portion of the roof had to be flat, with a little slate roofing mansard around the roof perimeter, to resemble the slate roof on the main house. The home owner chose IB PVC Flat Roof, as the roofing material for their building project.

The roofing material we used was an 80-mil white IB PVC membrane, mechanically attached to a wooden substrate, over 3 inches of tapered ISO insulation. All seams were hot air welded using Liester welding equipment.

Around the roof perimeter, we installed IB’s new Copper Drip edge metal with PVC coated flange, which allows us to seamlessly integrate copper with an IB roof. The PVC cover tape is welded to both the roofing membrane and a drip edge metal, leaving exposed copper to give this roof a beautiful look of a classic slate roof with copper flashing.

On the second floor, we installed the same 80 mil roof with differently shaped copper metal, over a walk-out balcony deck, and additionally flashed the roof and door opening, with IB’s pre-manufactured flashing accessories. After the membrane was installed, a floating roof deck was installed on top.

Step – By – Step Roof Installation Video

We took many pictures of this installation and compiled them into a video, so you can see our work from start to finish. This video includes before, during and after images of both the upper roof and the deck roof on the second floor.

Flat Roof with Tapered Insulation

The main flat roof had a tapered ISO insulation installed under the membrane. Tapered insulation is used to create a slight pitch on a flat roof. The pitch allows water to be diverted toward the roof drains or off the roof, depending on the configuration of tapered insulation. This prevents the formation of ponding water, which often causes roof leaks and requires expensive roof repairs. In rare cases, massive amounts of ponding water can cause structural damage to your home, which is insanely expensive to repair, as it requires complete removal of the roof, and rebuilding of the house framing.

Besides the tapered insulation, we also installed a roof hatch flashing, which allows roof access without using a ladder. The hatch flashing was done using IB membrane and IB’s pre-manufactured outside corner flashings.

Once all the insulation was installed, we could start laying down the membrane, welding the seams and flashing the roof hatch.

Copper Drip Edge

It’s been less than a year since IB Roof Systems introduced it’s new Copper Drip Edge. Before that, when our customers asked us if we could use copper, the answer was negative, as that would require the use of adhesives, and could potentially cause roof leaks. We were limited to using a steel drip edge, fully covered with a 25-mil layer of IB PVC material, which was only available in two colors – white and dark bronze.

Now, IB has created a method of applying a layer of PVC clad to the flange (concealed part) of the drip edge metal, and the copper is exposed, giving the new roof a beautiful, authentic and classic look of 19th century New England colonial homes, and fits beautifully with slate / copper roofs.

IB can custom produce the drip edge to the specifications submitted by the roofing contractor. For this job, we ordered a wide angel and 5″ wide face copper drip edge for the upper roof, and a 90 degree kick-in copper drip edge for the roof deck below.

If you have a flat roof which needs replacement in Newton, Boston, or the rest of Massachusetts, contact us today, using our roof estimate form, and we will provide a free price quote to replace or install a new IB roof for you.

You can also use our interactive Roofing Calculator to estimate roof prices for an IB PVC roof, and compare prices to Rubber roofing, Tar and Gravel roofs, TPO and modified bitumen roofs, as well as calculate the metal roofing prices in MA, CT and RI