Been doing some reading out of curiousity...
GRB fibreglass and EDPM rubber manufacturers both claim that their flat domestic roofing solutions last 30-40 years (ie over twice the max expected from torch on felt).
Is this true? Only reason is that I don't think I've noticed many instances of either compared to felt...
Cheers
Tim
Dunno, only had mine for 4 years, as you say they all claim it's been in use for decades in europe, just not here. Definitely a two man job, probably would have been easier with three.
Fibreglass is used for boats and they last 40+ years.
Same here. I did my workshop in EPDM about 3.5 years ago. I think the finish looks much smarter than the adjacent garage which is felted, and other people comment favourably on its appearance as well. It's not very common to see it used though, probably because felt is the `obvious' choice in many people's minds.
Why do you think its a two or three man job? I did my 3m x 5m roof in about a day on my own. I could have done it quicker with another person perhaps, but not significantly so.
dan.
All interesting... I wonder why I don't see more? Is it because people (including roofers) aren't aware... I would have thought fibreglass would have beaten felt hands down - and rubber if the rubber is good and the jointing is done right (having watched a video it looks like a real art to do all the corner joints, especially internal upstand joints (eg velux window). Nothing rocket-sciency but quite involved).
I caught a link somewhere and thouhg it worth the thought now for when my felt goes in 5-10 years (it's 7 years old).
"Tim Watts" wrote
A neighbour of mine had this done 15 years ago and no problems. The job was guaranteed for 20 years. Perhaps by coincidence, the property next to his has just had a major re-furb (the new owner is a managing builder) and they have fibre glassed the flat roofs. One thing that surprised me was that the coating is quite thin, but looks really substantial from a distance.
Phil
I'm pleased with mine, I thought it would save me ever having to do the roof again, I may well move before even felt would need replacing - don't suppose EPDM will be a major selling feature.
Originally kitchen and garage flat roofs were different levels, they needed replacing, I re-boarded them and added extra joists to raise them to the same level, so mine was about 8m x 3m.
I'd bought a roller with extension handle to apply the adhesive to the roof, the extension handle buckles on about the second sweep (cheap silverline rubbish) so I then had to apply all the adhesive kneeling down which was less than fun.
The instructions seemed strict about how much time it was to be left to "go tacky" before rolling out the membrane, and it got a bit rushed, and ended up with quite a few wrinkles and bubbles.
I was quite pissed of with this and decided I'd risk peeling it off and relaying it ... as it turned out the adhesive had more generous drying time than the supplier had suggested, it went down again much flatter and by then the sun had warmed the membrane up too which made it softer and easier to handle.
That's very interesting. Did you have any trouble with the corners? Did you have to use a variety of special uncured rubber sections to over lay over corner joints ('cos I saw one of the videos showing this)?
Cheers
Tim
I have one internal corner, and yes I bought the un-vulcanised rubber piece to fit into it, no problem. The cut-out piece from the L shape fitted the porch nicely.
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I've not looked into fibreglass nor EDPM because they seem to need professional installation.
I have an unused garage (with a low pitch dreaded cement fibre roof) which I am thinking of converting to a study. Roof insulation is an issue and I've been trying to compare prices for DIY materials for a warm roof.
Two options seem to be:
1) composite steel profile sheet with 100mm celotex sandwiched between profiles2) warm deck on ceiling joists with furring pieces and 90mm celotec bonden to 6mm ply with 3 layer torch on finish.
The composite steel will last a vlong time and the torch on 20years ( but some claim 70).
The steel costs GBP40/m2 and is quickly erected with moderate skill but the material cost for the warm deck is only slightly less and, from my experience of burning through torch on, needs much higher skill.
AJH
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