Have you fitted a rubber roof??

Hi

Next year Mrs BF and myself will hopefully be having a rather large extension to our house.

The kitchen / dining area is 8mx5m and has a flat roof. We’re fitting two large Velus roof domes.

I’ve been looking a different types of roofing. I’m pretty impressed with EPDM roofing. The videos look like is simple to fit.

I’m a competent DIY’er and thought i would get some mates and myself to fit it.

Have any of you guys ever fitted a rubber roof? If so, how easy was it. Is it recommended.

Many Thanks

BF

It’s easy but I’m an ex chippy. That a big ish sheet to do on your own. I used the solvent based glue (contact) with new ply wood base. It’s 3 years old now and looks good as new.

You tube for hints and tips

We left ours to the inspirationally named Derby Rubber Roofing Co.

We had a similar system fitted on our garage last year , Goodyear product guaranteed for 25 years . It’s been brilliant so far . Don’t know about fitting yourself looks quite involved . Local builder fitted the joists and boards , to get the guarantee all boards had to be of a high spec , t&g , glued joints and the fitters had to inspect the work before they would fit the rubber . I’m impressed with it so far .

If you can do it in one sheet and with no penetrations it will likely last.

If you install yourself then it’s a product only guarantee, in effect it came with no holes in it and no comeback on anything.

If you have penetrations (outlets, skylights) make sure your joints are clean and the detailing / flashing is spot on. The joints tend to fail on rubber roofs, as the glue fails or the glue was bonded to the debris on the unclean joints (workmanship issue)

Don’t rule out getting quotes on a few differing systems and have them supply copies of the guarantee that they will give on completion. Insurance backed product and workmanship guarantees (contractor installs it) is your best bet.

If you install yourself then it’s simply down to your workmanship, as this is where it will fail. Be it 2 years of if your luck 20-30 years.

They used to say you get what you pay. But I’ve seen many a job (felt, single ply, liquid, rubber / epdm, glass fibre) were people have paid over the odds for a poor job and with no come back as they only saw the headline 20 – 50 year guarantee etc or brought into that it’s the latest and most modern system on the market. But the contractor has long gone and with it their chance or repair.

Read up on the system being proposed, does it have a bba certificate and what’s its durability. Most importantly what are the terms of the guarantee and who underwrites it.

If you are to do DIY then your standard of workmanship is the risk factor, assuming you buy a reasonable quality.

A colleague of mine seems to do most DIY jobs himself and he did his flat roof extension last yr. He used OSB 3 tongue and groove and got the epdm rubber kit online – I think it was Firestone stuff he got.
Said the hardest thing was getting the boards up. He had a mate to help with lugging duties.

I am thinking of doing it to our garage roof next yr and he reckons it’s a really satisfying job to do.

We’ve got an EPDM roof on our log cabin. What surprised me was that the installers stuck it down using big squiggles of sealant rather than paint on adhesive. It went all wrinkly within days, and they’re coming back to redo it. I queried the method, and apparently they’ve done hundreds like that. They sent me a copy of the instructions from their supplier which does sure enough show that method. I’m still not terribly impressed though, part of the reason for paying someone else to do it was that it looked a bit of a faff to do it properly!

Did my garage a month back.
Hardest part was getting the rubber sheet up there.
Christ it was heavy.

Used a place called rubbaseal.co.uk
Really helpful, plenty of advice & tips on the phone, & great service.

Old felt left down & new 12mm OSB laid down on top.

Yep, old flat extension roof 5m x 2m. EPDM 1 piece. 5 years ago and absolutely no problems.

Looks like a big thick inner tube.

Not difficult to do but the addition of dome lights will make it a bit trickier.
Let the pro’s fit it and you’ll probably get a better finish and, more importantly, a guarantee.

Thanks for all the replies.

The extension is still very much in the planning stage. I think i might give this a go. I’ll do plenty of research and drag in some of my mates to help.

I’m confident in tackling it myself (with help). I’ve managed to build a couple of DIY kitchen extensions in the past so hopefully it shouldn’t be as tough.

Thanks once again..

BF

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/roofing-repairs-advice#post-5278112

Similar to Gray above, I’ve just built a log cabin and I fitted an EPDM roof rather than felt/shingles.

Really easy to do and it’s perfectly smooth and wrinkle-free.

I used water-based adhesive, applied with a roller.

Got mine from these guys clicky

Proutster/Eskay – Have you had any problems with larger birds puncturing the membrane when walking over it?

I read somewhere that pigeons can be an issue if they’re quite profuse. I also seem to remember the site suggested using a fake owl as a scarecrowpigeon. Not sure I’d want to go that far…

Our next door neighbors have it on their flat house roof.
The system is fine except the roof is punctured by a skylight and all of the problems have been with the details of this joint.

After paying to get the roofers back every so often he took a half day course and now does it himself.
It does indeed look pretty straightforward to do, but planning how to do the joints would be the trickiest bit.

N

Teasel, I have had no issues with birds. Quite often see pigeons walking around on it and the occasional gul. I wonder if that is down to the thickness of the EPDM? They sell it in different sizes.

it has been up several years now and it has been great, zero maintenance.

I get up onto it once a year to brush off leaves/berries and the condition looks as good as new.

That’s good to know.

I noticed the thickness difference when looking at the membranes – seems sod all in it (0.3mm) but I guess it makes a bit of difference once laid.

What did you put on yours, 1.2 or 1.5?

Edit : Just noticed a thicker 2.5mm sheet available from the site Proutster linked to. Surely that’d be a right git to keep flat where it folds/bends at the edge…?

I have just found my order confirmation email and it does not state the thickness, I cannot remember what I went for in the end.

I would have thought that 2.5mm would be a right pig in all but the hottest weather.

I went for water based glue as you can move it around still whilst fitting. The pros use impact adhesive – didn’t fancy that!!

Mine’s 1.2mm thick and seems to have a fat pigeon on it most of the day.

The only time when the fat sod leaves the roof is to flop down to the lawn to hoover up the seeds that have fallen out of the bird feeder.

And no sign of any damage from its fat feet – if it was a stilleto-wearing bird then it might be different 🙂

Did my flat roof with a product I bought from Wickes that came with a 25 year guarantee.It was a two layer rubber membrane system that came in 3 ft wide rolls.You applied the adhesive(which was so ****’ sticky my boots stuck to it ! )straight to the wood/chipboard.The first layer is then rolled out on to it & then the next layer goes directly on top of the first.The second was tacky on one side & a grit effect on the other(even I couldn’t get it wrong).Whole cost about was £250-300.
The roof it covered was 26 x 15, it’s been trouble free & shows no sign of wear in the 16 years it’s been down.I’ve walked on it put the ladders on it etc.I’d go as far to say that 25 yrs will be the minimum it lasts !

The only time when the fat sod leaves the roof is to flop down to the lawn…

🙂

Made me chuckle!

Thanks for your input, guys, it appears to be ideal for the job. I’ll give it a go when the weather warms up a tad.

I’ll give it a go when the weather warms up a tad.

Don’t do it when it is cold, it makes the EPDM much harder to work with.

Indubitably. I was thinking more late spring when I used the term ‘warm’, though it’ll more than likely be summer before I’m in a position to lay it.

Bookmark

I’m thinking of doing this but also wondering about fibreglass? What are the pros and cons of each?

Glassfibre can crack and is not as easy to repair. It can also detatch from the wood it is covering and get blown off – I’ve seen entire large shed roofs peeled off by the wind.

As for birds there’s a bloody Peacock that walks over my roof and it’s been ok.

Rubber roof is to secure roof from water leakage. A rubber roof can be watched better and for its better care EPDM Coatings helps you easily.

Riiiiight.