Flat roof repair possible?

[powertools]

I have a flat roof on the side of my workshop that is 30 feet long by 12 feet wide.
I had it re felted about 10 years ago but it has started to leak at one end. I don't expect to be in the building for more than 2 more years and I don't what the cost of having the whole roof done again.
Is there a product that I could use to carry out a repair myself ? I think that some of the seams have opened up but the felt seems ok.
Many thanks in advance.

 

[Cowboy _Builder]

I was asked to do a simalar repair a few years ago by a poor farmer :roll: ,,,I used flash band and then painted Bitumen over the repaired areas, as he said it was been demolished the following year ,it's still up and dosen't leak .

 

[Eric The Viking]

+1 for Flashband.

When you do the patching, especially in this weather, run a hot air paintstripper over the area to dry it before the Flashband, then again over the surface of the stuff once you've put it down, until it appears to ooze round the edges. It'll stick like anything then. A blowlamp will be too hot, even if it's only butane. A wallpaper seam roller is also handy, used gently. I find it's easier to cut it with tin snips than a knife - knife blades tend to get stuck on the bitumen.

It doesn't stretch like lead though. If you have to go round a returning (outside) corner on an upstand , you pretty much have to heat it, so that the bitumen on the pieces you cut can ooze together at the joints. It still works though. For inside corners you can just crinkle it up and warm it thoroughly.

Once you've got mains and a paintstripper up there, you might find you can melt any cracks back together, but it won't be as long-lasting as Flashband though.

I think it's enormously useful stuff. It's quite good for stopping old-style PCs rattling too - stick a slab of it on the inside surface of the case.

E.

PS: there is a liquid primer for it. I've had some for ages but hardly ever use it. IIRC it's to seal porous surfaces, mainly As long as you heat it on normal dry roofing felt, that should be enough.

 

[powertools]

Thanks for that I have I have done the Google thing and read about it and if you guys think it works I will give it a go.

 

[carlb40]

Not done roofing in a while. But have a look on the screwfix site. They sell various products that can be applied in wet weather. Although personally i would still do any repairs when the roof is dry

 

[powertools]

It's not to urgent to repair it is in an unused area of the building and is not like having a leak in your house.
It just needs to be sorted as the rafters and ply base are wet and I can leave it until they dry out.

 

[graduate_owner]

I had a felt repair job to do and had success with a product called Flexacryl. You can apply it when wet, but I gave the felt a good brushing when dry and applied a thick coat over cracks etc. It works on glass fibre too. A 2.5 litre tin cost me about £18. The shelf life is about 1 year after opening but I patched up some felt about 6 years after first opening the tin and it worked fine.

K

 

[xy mosian]

I had a 'quick' repair to do some years ago that was only to be for a short time. An expensive tin of some gunk, supplied by a local builders merchant didn't work. A very cheap large tin of car body underseal worked first time and is still working many years later. Car body underseal, cheap enough to blather on at every possible problem area.
xy

 

[powertools]

I was kind of hoping that someone would tell me about a slab of something I could get and then I would have an excuse to get out the old parafin blow lamp.
I have a tin of underseal and if you are serious I may well give that a go

 

[xy mosian]

It certainly worked for me. You wouldn't want to go crawling around on it though, it will stay soft for ages. The only snag I can see is that if it doesn't work, apart from having to do the job again, it may be a real bu--er to clean off sufficiently for a more traditional repair.
If you fancy the fun get the blow lamp out as others have suggested. Keep the flame low.
xy

 

[kostello]

Plus 1 for flexacryl.

You need to make sure the felt is clean. You can even house it down ad flexacryl can be applied in the wet