Slightly pitched felt roof. Problem?

Me and Mrs Hippy are looking at buying a house with a slightly pitched felt roof, as well as this it has no loft, so bedroom ceiling a bit of insulation (I presume) and then the roof. I know nothing about this so thought I’d ask the stw hive mind, is the roof doomed to leak, and will the bedrooms be freezing in winter/boiling in summer?

Apart from that, the house is lovely….

Cheers

Yes, hot in summer, cold in winter and it’ll leak or rot eventually.

Could you re roof? Lower the internal ceiling, insulate and ventilate and tile assuming the pitch is great enough to take tiles?

Ianar(oofer).

Yes to both.

Sorry to pee on your fireworks but a felt roof is definitely going to leak at some point.

And if it’s old, then insulation wasn’t the big deal it is now.

That’s what I was thinking. Too flat to tile I think, but did think you could raise a bit and add more insulation when the roof needed redoing.

Edpm is a lot more leak proof than felt, there are some tiling systems that allow low angles (down to 15 degrees maybe?) as well

You might have to overboard the ceiling with insulated plasterboard if you can’t enough depth from the top.

And fibre glass or even rubber for the roof.

I’m about to do my shed roof in rubber. (EPDM) As it’s so easy to do and has something like a 25 year lifespan.

Is this the whole roof or just part?

I’d be budgetting for a proper tiled roof to be added, and offering accordingly.

Flat roofs don’t have to leak. Or, at least, not for a long time. You might be able to put insulation on top of the felt, which helps protect it as well as reducing heat loss.

Our flat garage roof leaks, I ve patched it up a few times but damp always gets through as it rains a lot and wind blows it in.  A few builders have looked at it and it needs a proper pitch and tiling, which is the same price as another flat roof.

I needed planning permission to replace, which I got with no restrictions,

It also depends on the deck material as to how long it’ll last

Too flat to tile I think, but did think you could raise a bit and add more insulation when the roof needed redoing.

I think that it’ll be done to current standards when you re-roof, which will almost certainly increase insulation.

A properly applied modern hot-melt system will “move” with the building and will be around 200mm thick. It won’t be the cheapest system though

Presumably a slightly pitched roof would actually be less likely to leak than a flat roof that is more likely to get debris on it and pool water.

However every insurance policy I’ve had has excluded properties that don’t have a traditional tiled main roof so you might have less choice of insurer.

GRP and take the opportunity to include solar panel installation points in the construction.

Thanks for the responses peeps, as normal, my wife has ignored my concerns, and put an offer in anyway…..?

Snow is heavy and won’t slide off. Lots of water from standing melting snow.

We have a very slightly pitched roof over one bedroom.It was done in EPDM over 10 years ago and still looks perfect. We got the roofer who did it to put a little bit more pitch on it and add some insulation.

Yes it is a bit cooler in winter but only slightly and you can hear it flapping in strong winds.

Whether it’s correct or not the roofer said not adhering it down in the centre allows air to move under it and keep the boards dry.

More pitch (bitumen) will help waterproof the joints….

(sorry…bad joke Friday…)

We have a couple of small flat felt roofs (on alcoves etc). Every year or so I go and smear another layer of Black Jack on. It will fail eventually judging by what everyone says (possibly with the added weight of the roof paint!) but it hasn’t failed yet…

https://www.toolstation.com/everbuild-black-jack-all-weather-roof-coat/p60252?utm_source=googleshopping&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=googleshoppingfeed