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The best flat roof roofing material is undoubtedly a single sheet of rubber custom made for weather-proofing flat roofs, such as for example Firestone’s EPDM product.

That is laid directly onto roof boarding, itself supported by the roof rafters and nagging. Insulating material is generally laid in the space between the two, and if you’re renewing your flat roof anyway you might as well take the opportunity of renewing that simultaneously.

This will almost certainly function as recommendation you obtain from any reputable builder or roofer advising you on replacing your existing flat roof.

Until recently the most popular material for a fresh flat roof was bituminous felt laid in three layers, the initial layer nailed down and the upper two bonded to the one beneath with mastic bitumen. Depending on material used, this could mean heating a solid bitumen-based compound to make it liquid, and pouring it onto the underlying felt and spreading it evenly on the whole area of the roof.

Then you had to wait for the compound to cool before applying the next layer, and at the end spreading a layer of stone chippings on the roof and bonding it with a chipping compound, this being to reflect the sun’s rays and prevent the felt and bitumen degrading quickly.

This was altogether a fairly messy, complicated and time-consuming job best left to the experts. In addition, there have been several stages where it had been very easy to neglect to make the roof weather-proof, e.g. where the edge of the felt met the prevailing tile or slate roofing of the pitch roof.

In addition, if, or rather when, there developed a leak in the flat roof, it might be very difficult and messy to find out wherever the rain was getting in. Seldom would the manifestation of the leak on the ceiling of the area below be directly below the foundation of it. energy efficiency could get by way of a weakness in the bitumen felt and travel along a rafter before descending to the ceiling board below.

The new generation of rubber-based flat roofing systems are far superior. If you have reasonable DIY abilities then you can probably do-it-yourself, with one other person to aid. You can easily find a local supplier of rubber flat roof roofing material online, and the current price is only around �6.65 per square metre.

Most suppliers slice the material to the exact shape and size that you require so there are no unnecessary joins, meaning no weaknesses and an extremely long-lasting, leak-proof roof.

The vital portion of the whole process is to make sure that there are no gaps between the rubber roof and any existing pitch roof where rain could possibly penetrate. To ensure there are no problems it is critical to run the rubber material up and beneath the tiles or slates of the adjoining pitch roof in order that any rain dripping from the lower-most row falls onto the rubber, with no chance for it over-lapping the edge and getting within the pitch roof.

Also, make sure that the existing slope of the flat roof towards the guttering or other means of water escape is maintained. The rubber is merely glued onto the roof boards and sealed where appropriate with metal brackets or bitumen so that rain penetration is impossible. Mind that the glue covers the whole of the underneath of the rubber so as to avoid bumps in the surface that could obstruct the drainage of the water away.

Rubber roofs have been proven to last for more than 50 years under all weathers, so it really is the only flat roof roofing material that you should consider when deciding on a new flat roof.