Lake Forest, CA
Flat roofs do not shed water. They hold it back.
Flat sections on an otherwise pitched house are where the leaks are. Additions, porch roofs, and the bit over the garage.
Describe the flat roofing job
Three questions, then the address. Up to three Lake Forest contractors who do this work.
You are on the list.
No provider in Lake Forest is taking requests through this service yet. We are lining them up, and yours is kept until one can.
- Nobody gets your details yet. Your request stays with us and is not passed to any company.
- One email when someone can help. When a provider covering your area can take it on, we email you once and ask whether you want that company, by name, to contact you.
- Deleted after 90 days. If nobody can take it on, or you do not say yes, your contact details are deleted 90 days after your request.
- You decide, or you do not. There is nothing to cancel and nothing to pay us.
Nobody will call you about this request unless you say yes to a company by name.
Before you let anybody on the roof
The things worth pinning down on a flat roofing job. A contractor who has not raised them has not looked properly.
- Which membrane, and how the seams are joined
- Whether water ponds anywhere after rain
- Whether a coating is being sold as a repair
- Drain, scupper and overflow provision
- How the flat section is flashed into adjoining walls and pitched roofs
Drains and scuppers need to be checked every season. One blocked drain can hold enough water to matter structurally.
Ponding water is the enemy. Anything still sitting there forty-eight hours after rain is a design problem, and tapered insulation is usually the answer.
Single-ply membranes — TPO, PVC, EPDM — are heat-welded or taped at the seams. The seams and the terminations are the whole job.
Locally
What actually takes roofs out here is 1970s and 1980s roofs that are now well past the warranty they were sold on. A twenty-five-year shingle put on in 1982 is not a maintenance question any more. The older tracts here are past the point where patching is the cheaper answer.
About flat roofing here
What happens to my information?
It goes to a maximum of three roofing contractors working in Lake Forest, and to nobody else. We do not sell it as a mailing list and we do not post it anywhere public. Our privacy policy sets out exactly what is shared.
Can I stay in the house while it is done?
Yes, though it is loud, and things will fall off shelves in the garage. Move cars out of the driveway and take anything fragile off the walls of the top floor.
How long does a re-roof take?
A straightforward asphalt roof on an average house is one to three days. Tile, slate and complex rooflines take longer, and weather stops work more often than anything else.
Why does ventilation keep coming up?
It is the most under-sold part of a roof. Trapped heat and moisture shorten shingle life, warp decking, and in cold weather it is what turns snow into an ice dam.
Get the roof looked at
Free, no obligation, and your details go to no company until you say yes.