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How to repair a hole in a flat roof depends on what material your flat roof is made from. If you have an asphalt, felt or EDPM rubber roof, the repairs are quite simple, whereas it’s a bit more tricky if you have a fibreglass flat roof. How to repair a hole in an asphalt flat roof If you’ve got a small hole in your asphalt flat roof, you might get away with using a paint-on fix from a tin. It’s best to use this as a temporary measure to tide you over until you can get in touch with a professional. If the hole is on the flashing, you can add heat-applied flashing tape to it, or use a patch of torched-on roofing felt. There are liquid systems you can use, but usually they’re only available to the trade. Repairing a hole in a felt flat roof It's a similar process to asphalt roofing if you want to repair a hole in a felt flat roof. Use a paint-on fix for a temporary solution, but the best way to repair a hole is to use a torched-on piece of roofing felt to cover the hole and make it watertight again. How to fix a hole in an EDPM rubber flat roof If the hole in a rubber flat roof is small, you may be able to get away with applying some lap sealant to the hole. Only use a small amount, as if you go for a more permanent repair later down the line all of this will need to be scraped off. You can also use a malleable piece of self-adhesive flashing – clean the area, add EDPM primer and stick the patch on from the centre outwards. Add sealant to the edges if you want to give it more water protection. How to fix pin holes in a fibreglass flat roof If you find pin holes in your fibreglass roof, it usually means there wasn’t enough resin used at installation. To repair the holes, you’ll need to sand down the entire roof back to the clear resin. Then clean the area with acetone and apply GRP roofing resin – the acetone ensures that the resin sticks. You might need two coats of resin to get rid of all the holes.

Ponding is where you see pools of water appearing on your flat roof. Unless your roof is leaking or showing other signs of damage, you don’t need to replace it. When you do have your flat roof replaced, tell the contractor so they can find out the cause of the ponding.

Will My Roof Leak With Missing Ridge Tiles?

Your roof is the first line of defence against the elements. Therefore, if you want your home protected at all times, there’s a need to ensure a professional inspection of your home at least once a year. However, there are certain issues that you do not have to wait for a professional to be able to spot by yourself. And an example of this includes a missing ridge tile. This issue is noticeable from the ground level while some tiles may even fall off and notifying you in the process. If you’re currently facing this kind of challenge, you’d probably want to know if the missing ridge tiles can cause your roof to leak. In this article, we aim to answer this question and more. Let’s take a look!

Firstly, there are a number of causes of missing tiles or slates and the most obvious is the weather. When the wind or rain gets very high, it can pull your tiles out of place and even more more, if they weren’t properly installed in the first place. Secondly, there’s also a chance that the nails may wear away. These are the nails that holds your ridge tiles in place, they can rust and wear away, hence leading to missing ridge tiles.

Therefore, the short answer to the question is yes, missing ridge tiles can cause your roof to leak. Even if it doesn’t leave a visible gap in your roof’s covering, it’ll create a break in the roof which weather can easily penetrate. And allowing this to happen makes the other tiles more susceptible to damage which won’t be good for the entire house as well as your pocket. Hence, once you notice a missing ridge tile ensure to have it replaced as soon as possible.

A leaky flat roof is one of those things every home and property owner would rather prefer to avoid. Not only can it be extremely frustrating to deal with, but it can also have a grave impact on the overall integrity and value of your property especially when things are not done properly. Generally, all leaky roofs pose serious problems, however, a leak in a flat roof is even a lot more complicated. Ranging from the quite simple repairs to the incredibly complex fixes, flat roof repair (also known as low slope roof repair) is be seriously problematic and at times, can call for a reconstruction which involves complicated roof insurance as well as an experienced professional support.

Flat roof repair consists of many different types. Cap sheet roofs possess layers of material glued together with hot asphalt, including a roll of mineral surface glue using asphalt to the top rather than gravel. The tar and gravel roofs also possess layers of material glued together with the help of hot asphalt, with the use of asphalt on top as well as gravel included in the asphalt. A modified bitumen roof possesses more strength when compared to a cap sheet roof or the conventional tar and gravel roof. This can be 2 or 3 plies, smooth or with a mineral surface, torched on, mopped on or self adhering. What’s more? A TPO roof is a single ply roof which is usually heat welded together. A PVC roof is also a single ply roof that’s heat welded together while an EPDM is a single ply roof that’s glued together. The foam roofs as well as various coatings are incorporated to reflect the sun’s UV rays and also to maintain and seal the roof.

How To Identify Asbestos Roof Tiles

Found in some particular rocks, asbestos is a naturally occurring mineral that’s commonly used before the 1990’s as a building material specifically for roofing. This material was banned in the UK as it was discovered to possess harmful fibres which is potentially dangerous to human’s respiratory health when disturbed and inhaled. According to several reports this health conditions include non cancerous lung disease, mesothelioma and asbestosis, which are all untreatable. Therefore, be it in a domestic or industrial setting, there’s the need to know how to identify asbestos and if found, start the removal process as quickly as possible.

While the three types of asbestos used in roof tiles can be quite easy to identify by themselves, a total reverse is the case, when mixed into a tile. Generally roofing tiles that includes asbestos will mostly have colours such as grey, white or blue-white colour, but so does several other roof tiles made from other materials that are totally safe. As a result, the only way in which you can identify if a tile contains asbestos is by looking for an identification mark. These marks are mostly inscribed onto about one in twenty tiles, therefore if you have a strong feeling that your roof tiles contains asbestos, you may have to remove several tiles before you can identify the marked one. Otherwise, the only way you can confirm is by sending a sample to a certified asbestos testing lab. These labs are knowledgeable and possess the right equipment, tools as well as testing kits to determine the levels of asbestos in your premises. With this, you have a better chance of getting quality results than any other means. What’s more? They’ll also recommend expert asbestos removal services if the harmful material is found to be present in your house.

How To Clean Roof Tiles?

If you’re a DIY person with a dirty roof tiles or just a homeowner who’s also a lover of knowledge, you may probably like to know how you can have your roof tiles cleaned. This is a very common question which often depends on the dirt or debris you’re dealing with as well as the type of roof you possess. Most often than not, if you own a traditional concrete or slate roof tiles, then you’re more likely to battle moss and or algae growth.

If you’re not a competent DIY person or do not have enough confidence to pull this off, then it’s advisable to hire the services of a professional who can guarantee the best results for help. In this article, you’ll learn how to go about cleaning your roof tiles. Let’s have a look!

✓ Consider Safety. When it comes to roof cleaning, you have to be very careful. They’re normally high up and any task that deals with height will usually require putting safety measures in place. Firstly, it’s important to be confident with heights and ladders, if not you’d have to find someone who is. And if you’re confident, there’s also the need to find someone who can help you hold the base of the ladder.

✓ Trim the trees. Nearby trees are usually a threat to any roof and also makes cleaning much harder. So it’s always wise to cut any overhanging branches before you proceed.

✓ Bleach or not to bleach. Although you have to be very careful using beach and water but it also happens to be one of the easiest DIY ways to clean your roof. You either stand about 4 feet away and rely on water pressure or clean down the tiles by hand.

✓ Try not to make use of a blaster.

Chimney liners are a very important component of the chimney, but the fact is most home and property owners either continue to overlook them or aren’t even aware of their existence. This is, however, quite understandable given the fact that they usually last a long period of time – more than 50 years. To ensure that they last that long, the question that arises is, do chimney liners need to be swept and cleaned? The short and simple answer to this question is yes, chimney liners definitely needs to be cleaned on a frequent basis. A chimney liner happens to be an essential part of your chimney. When it’s not cleaned, it tends to accumulate dust, soot and dirt which can give rise to a number of problems you’d rather want to avoid. Chimney liner are able to provide adequate protection to your flue but even at that the water, creosote and other contaminant build up can make the liner to deteriorate, and making it unsafe for usage. In other words, contrary to several belief, chimney liners do need the same amount of cleaning as chimneys without liners. Failure to sweep your chimney liners can give rise to the following problems:

• Creosote buildup. If your main source of fire is wood, then you’ll definitely have creosote present in your chimney. This is highly combustible and its buildup may lead to fire outbreak.
• Carbon monoxide poisoning. Carbon monoxide is said to be on the rise by NCBI and its primarily generated from heating systems which are terribly ventilated as a result of uncleaned or dirty chimneys.