Customers and clients in our home town of Caterham often call in our roofers to repair or replace damaged felt flat roofs. While the damage often comes down to the material itself and the fact felt doesn’t perform as well as modern EPDM rubber or GRP fibreglass systems, our roofing contractors often find that ongoing maintenance and repair work preserves felt surfaces for longer than is usually expected – and often far beyond the expected lifespan.
This page offers some maintenance tips to help you increase the longevity of flat roofing created from felt. If you require roof repairs and want to work with one of the best roofing companies in the Caterham area, please contact us on 01883 337700. We operate as a team of reputable and reliable roofers with many years of experience in the local roofing sector.
To be the best, our customers should use the best. The roofing contractors at SG Refurbishments are Mach 3 razor sharp and work for a company known for its cutting-edge installations.
Sometimes, our roofers come across felt flat roofing systems which have long exceeded their useful life. Under such circumstances, we recommend a full replacement using modern membranes manufactured from EPDM rubber or GRP fibreglass. Only the most progressive roofing companies in the Caterham area have experience with these innovative systems.
On other occasions, our roofing contractors provide customers and clients with an effective repair. Our maintenance tips could expand the lifespan of your own felt flat roof installation.
Regular Inspections
Call in our roofers to inspect your flat roof at least twice a year. Roofing companies survey the entire structure and notify you of any changes to its condition, usually with a quotation for any repair work required. SG Roofing helps property owners in Caterham to determine whether the changes discovered are problematic enough to need work or are harmless.
Key issues for roofing contractors to look out for include blisters and bubbles, open seams, cracks, ruptures and loose surfaces. Roofers also keep an eye out for drainage problems, such as standing water and clogged gutters, flashing problems and deteriorated brickwork or mortar. We can rectify these issues professionally with our repair and replacement work.
Periods of Poor Weather
If heavy rain, high winds or a storm have pounded your Caterham property recently, be sure to check that water has properly drained away from the flat roofing structure – ideally from a safe vantage point. Standing water, referred to by roofing companies as ponding, signifies a shift in the flat roofing structure or, more often than not, an ongoing drainage problem.
Drainage problems quickly lead to leaks, especially if the membrane or the flashing has defects. After particularly extreme weather, check the underside – and the edges in particular – for signs of leaks. Call in our roofers quickly if you notice a drainage problem.
Protecting the Surface
If you have any contractors in who use flat roofing as a staging area for their own repair work, make sure they put down timber boards with a minimum thickness of 18mm to protect the surface. Roofing companies like our own attend to a surprising number of jobs in Caterham where damage comes down to industrial equipment used or other workforces.
In most cases, those workforces haven’t taken proper precautions when working on the roofing structure. Our roofing contractors also see examples of negligence on pitched roofs, often when satellite dish or TV aerial installers have stepped onto slates or tiles and caused them to dislodge. A little care and due diligence stops this accidental damage for occurring.
Prompt Repair Work
Even if you’ve taken good care of your felt roof, faults are sometimes unavoidable especially with very old installations. As soon as you recognise your roofing needs repair work, pick up the phone and call our roofing contractors in Caterham. A prompt repair helps to prolong the lifespan of your roofing system and stops the actual damage from worsening over time.
We repair punctures, open seams, worn coatings and all other felt-related issues quickly. Waiting too long to address a problem can lead to further damage on other parts of the structure which will ultimately prove much more expensive for our roofers to rectify.
Replace Economically
Even the most vigilant homeowner in Caterham can’t keep a felt roof repaired and looked after indefinitely. Sometimes, repairing an old and problematic roof just isn’t worth it and it often works our cheaper over the longer term to have our roofers replace it. Despite added costs, it usually proves more effective to have the replacement work done in EPDM or GRP.
These surfaces last for upward of 20 years with minimal maintenance and easily outweigh the continuous cost of maintaining and repairing felt. Our roofing contractors can figure out whether this will be case for you. We frequently surprise customers who can’t believe that modern replacements from roofing companies work out to be so effective in terms of cost.