Cambridge Roofers carries out flat roof installations and repairs for homeowners in Godmanchester, covering extensions, garages and outbuildings with EPDM rubber and torch-on felt systems.
Call any time. Calls are answered day and night and passed straight to our roofers.
A flat roof that starts leaking during heavy rain, overnight, or on a bank holiday puts you in an uncomfortable position. The roofer cannot get there instantly, and the water is not going to wait. Knowing what to do in the gap between spotting the problem and getting the work sorted can limit the damage significantly. It can also prevent you from making things worse - because some instincts in this situation are the wrong ones.
Trace the water inside the building before you do anything else. If water is running down a wall or pooling on a floor, track it as far back towards the ceiling or roof as you can. Look for the highest point at which it appears. That tells you the approximate entry zone on the roof above, which is useful information to pass on to a roofer.
Be careful about water travelling along joists or rafters before it drops - the wet patch on a ceiling is not always directly below where the water is getting in. If you can safely access a loft or void beneath the flat roof, check the underside of the deck for wet timber or dripping. Again, do not assume the leak is directly above the drip.
Put towels or old sheets down on flooring to absorb water and prevent it spreading. If water is dripping from a ceiling, placing a bucket below the drip is obvious. Plasterboard absorbs water and the ceiling can bulge with the weight of trapped water above it. If the ceiling is visibly bowing or very damp over a wide area, keep everyone out of the room and do not poke, prod or pierce it.
Move anything valuable or electrical away from the affected area. Flat roof leaks during heavy rain can put a surprising volume of water through a small gap.
This is where well-meaning DIY can turn a repair job into a bigger one. The instinct is to get up on the roof, find the hole, and cover it with something. Here is why that often makes things worse.
Walking on a damaged felt membrane, particularly one that has aged and become brittle, causes further cracking and breaks the bond between layers. EPDM is more forgiving underfoot, but walking across any flat roof without knowing the condition of the deck beneath is a risk - if the boarding is wet and soft, it will not support weight safely.
Silicone sealant applied to a wet membrane will not bond correctly and is not a flat roofing material. It may look as though it has covered the gap, but it will not move with the membrane as temperatures change and will typically fail within weeks. The same applies to roofing tape applied over a wet surface - it needs a dry, clean membrane to bond to, and in wet weather that is rarely what you have.
Bitumen repair products applied cold, from a tin, have their place in certain situations - but only on dry, clean felt and only as a short-term measure. Applying any product to a wet roof surface almost always makes the eventual repair harder and more expensive, because the proper fix then has to be made through or over a failed patch as well as the original problem.
If the roof is safely accessible, the weather has eased, and you are confident the surface will take your weight, a quick look can help you give a roofer accurate information. You are not trying to fix anything - you are looking for:
A blocked outlet is worth clearing immediately if you can reach it safely - this alone can stop water backing up and finding its way through minor defects. Lift the drain cover and clear the debris by hand. That is the one piece of immediate action that can make a genuine difference.
A roofer who asks good questions before arriving is more likely to turn up prepared. Be ready to describe:
That information lets a roofer bring the right materials and gives a clearer picture of whether this is likely to be a repair or a replacement job.
Once a roofer gets to the roof, a proper assessment starts with the covering being examined across its full area, not just where the obvious damage is. The deck beneath is checked for moisture and softness. The drainage fall is assessed. Only after that can a roofer give you an honest recommendation on whether a targeted repair is appropriate or whether the roof needs replacing.
For homes and extensions, two common materials used in a replacement are EPDM rubber membrane and torch-on felt. EPDM is a single-ply sheet with very few seams on a domestic roof, which reduces the number of potential failure points. Torch-on felt, when laid in three layers on a sound deck, is a proven system that has been used on UK homes for many years.
Flat roofing replacement typically costs between £70 and £120 per square metre for EPDM, or £50 to £90 per square metre for torch-on felt. A repair - redressing a failed upstand or patching an isolated split - might cost £150 to £400 depending on access and the extent of the damage. These are typical UK ranges; the actual cost for any specific roof depends on its condition, size and what the deck inspection reveals.
Once the water has been contained and you have spoken to a roofer, resist the temptation to apply further temporary fixes. A roofer who arrives to find three layers of tape, sealant and mastic over the original problem will spend time removing all of that before they can assess what is actually happening. It delays the repair and can add cost.
Document what you have done - take photographs of the wet area inside and of any visible damage on the roof surface. This is useful both for the roofer and if you need to make an insurance claim for damage to the interior of the building.
We cover Godmanchester and the surrounding area, including Cambridge and neighbouring towns. If you have a flat roof that needs urgent attention or you want a survey to understand its condition before problems develop, call us and we will arrange to come and look at it properly.
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Call any time. Calls are answered day and night and passed straight to our roofers.
