ID Flat Roof (617)299-0291

This is a waterfront house in Warren, Rhode Island facing the bay. The old rubber roof was failing, there were multiple leaks along seams and corners, plus owner complained that it gets pretty hot in the dining room located below during the sunny days.

Both these issues were resolved by installing single ply 50-mill white IB membrane. First of all old rubber and insulation were removed and roof deck was inspected for the rot damage. Because homeowner addressed his leak issues in the timely manner no rot damage was found and no repairs were necessary. We installed new ½ inch fan fold insulation and IB membrane on top of it. To properly flash the membrane to the walls 3 rows of siding where removed, membrane was flashed 1 foot up to the wall and a few inches into the gap under the sliders.

After the siding was reinstalled and all the gaps sealed, leaking problem was taken care of, as well as dining room’s overheating, because white membrane reflects about 90% of sunlight, thus making living areas under it much cooler.

Even though this was a relatively big two family house with the roof being about 1200 sq. feet it only had one 3 inch drain in the middle of it – that was just the way houses were built back in the days. The roof was originally tar & gravel and naturally, after installing couple more new layers, it lost its slope towards the middle of the roof where drain is. That, of course, caused water to pond making the situation even worse and resulting in multiple leaks. Roofing contractor who was called for repair charged $3500 and installed another patch right where water was ponding – naturally, story repeated itself in no time. So, when we met the owner he was very frustrated and angry about the whole story – costly repairs were done but with no improvements.

We decided to strip top two layers, recreate original slope and install 50 mill IB PVC membrane over ½ inch fan-fold insulation.

After the strip was done we discovered that because water was getting under the roof for a long time there were multiple places were roof deck was completely rotten and deteriorated, we even found a termite colony at one place (wood and moisture, talk about better combination for termites!). Another problem was the drain itself: after multiple repair attempts it had some build-up around it making it not the lowest point of the roof.

After all rot damage was repaired and frame was rebuild we proceeded with installing IB membrane. 6 inch wide pressure treated wood nailer was installed around all edges. Than we installed ½ inch thick insulation and started rolling out IB membrane.

Two old vents were removed and replaced with IB vents; both chimneys were wrapped around about two feet high and terminated with masonry anchors and termination bar. After all seams were hot air welded together – forming one continuous piece of membrane – it was a time to replace the drain. We cut the old piece out and installed new 3 inch IB drain with rubber gasket to prevent possible back-flow and aluminum dome over it to prevent it from clogging with leaves and other debris.

As a result – nice watertight roof, no ponding water and one happy customer.