On Sunday, 26 July 2020 13:36:08 UTC+1, Dave Plowman (News) wrote:

Recent rain has shown my flat roof is leaking. It's part of a conversion
built about 30 years ago. Very nicely built - the correct lie etc and
marine ply decking, and lead flashing. Think it is three layer. Size
approx 5x5 metres.

Any of the modern alternatives better? Membrane or fibreglass? And a rough
idea of relative costs would be nice too.

Access is easy, but it's never walked on etc except for any maintenance.

EPDM & fibreglass are both diyable. The issue we ran into with EPDM is that it's not compatible with bitumen, so every bit of boarding must be stripped off & renewed.

Lead is a foolish idea these days, even in apparently inaccessible places. Copper even more so. Many swear by steel, but it gets ugly in time.

In the end we left the old felt in place & used bedsheet, bitumen & sand. Crude for sure, but it was a very quick job costing almost £20 something and last time I looked was still in good nick years later. If/when it deteriorates, more cloth & bitumen is only another £20.


NT