The best flat roof roofing material is without a doubt a single sheet of rubber custom made for weather-proofing flat roofs, such as Firestone’s EPDM product.
That is laid directly onto roof boarding, itself supported by the roof rafters and nagging. Insulating material is normally laid in the space between the two, and if you’re renewing your flat roof anyway you may as well take the chance of renewing that as well.
This will almost certainly function as recommendation you obtain from any reputable builder or roofer advising you on replacing your existing flat roof.
Until recently the most famous material for a new flat roof was bituminous felt laid in three layers, the first layer nailed down and the upper two bonded to the main one beneath with mastic bitumen. With regards to the material used, this may mean heating a good bitumen-based compound to create it liquid, and then pouring it onto the underlying felt and spreading it evenly on the whole section of the roof.
Then you had to wait for the compound to cool before applying another layer, and by the end spreading a layer of stone chippings on the roof and bonding it with a chipping compound, this being to reflect natural sunlight preventing the felt and bitumen degrading quickly.
This was altogether a fairly messy, complicated and time-consuming job best left to the experts. In addition, there were several stages where it had been very easy to neglect to make the roof weather-proof, e.g. where the edge of the felt met the existing tile or slate roofing of the pitch roof.
On top of that, if, or rather when, there developed a leak in the flat roof, it would be very difficult and messy to discover wherever the rain was getting back in. Seldom would the manifestation of the leak on the ceiling of the room below be directly below the foundation of it. Water could get by way of a weakness in the bitumen felt and travel along a rafter before descending to the ceiling board below.
The new generation of rubber-based flat roofing systems are far superior. In case you have reasonable DIY abilities then you can certainly probably do-it-yourself, with one other person to assist. You can easily find a local supplier of rubber flat roof roofing material online, and the current price is only around �6.65 per square metre.
Most suppliers slice the material to the exact size and shape that you require so are there no unnecessary joins, meaning no weaknesses and an exceptionally long-lasting, leak-proof roof.
The vital part of the whole process is to make sure that there are no gaps between the rubber roof and any existing pitch roof where rain could possibly penetrate. To ensure there are no problems it is vital to run the rubber material up and under the tiles or slates of the adjoining pitch roof in order that any rain dripping from the lower-most row falls onto the rubber, with no chance for it over-lapping the edge and getting within the pitch roof.
Also, make sure that the existing slope of the flat roof towards the guttering or other method of water escape is maintained. water damage prevention is simply glued onto the roof boards and sealed where appropriate with metal brackets or bitumen so that rain penetration is impossible. Mind that the glue covers the whole of the underneath of the rubber so as to avoid bumps in the top which could obstruct the drainage of the water away.
Rubber roofs have been proven to last for more than 50 years under all weathers, so that it really is the only real flat roof roofing material that you need to consider when deciding on a fresh flat roof.