subject: Leak Locating And Flat Roof Repair [print this page] There really is no escaping the fact that if you own a home, or commercial building, eventually the roof is going to spring a leak, or two. Then once this happens, you really have but two choices, and those are to call in a roofing contractor, or roll up your sleeves and do the job yourself.
Suppose your roof springs a leak though, and you either don't have the money to hire the job out to a professional, or you're simply unwilling to pay their high fee? Then of course your next option is to have a friend or loved one do the work, or simply climb up on the roof and do the job yourself.
In this case your very first step is to find the leak, and in many cases this is far more easier said then done. You see the problem on flat roofs, is that water can travel some distance before it enters the building as a leak. For starters the felt paper is 3 feet wide, and then the plywood sheets are 4' x 8', so both of these can carry water up to 11' combined.
What this means, is that the water stain on your ceiling can be as much as 11 feet from where the actual leak is. Now 11 feet is definitely on the extreme end, but just the same, you can expect to locate a leak on a flat roof at least a few feet away from where the water is entering a building.
Another place to look for problems is low areas of a flat roof, where water is pooling after it rains. Often roof joists, or even trusses settle or warp to cause dips in a flat roof, and water that pools in them will eventually find its way through, unless it dries out.
Stick with it long enough, and through trial and error in time you will locate the source of the water in your building, and then your next task is to do a quality patch-job. For this the natural choice will most likely be roofing patch that you can pick up at your local hardware supplier and if the roof is wet, make sure to buy "wet patch".
Now common black patching compound has been the stand-by choice for literally decades. Even so, it tends to crack after it cures so it seals well at first, but can fail in a couple of years. Check out some of the EPDM products that are available now for roof repair. Liquid rubber for instance is amazing stuff that can be poured into low areas to seal them up tight for up to ten years.
