Norwich Roofers installs and repairs flat roofs on extensions, garages, and outbuildings for homeowners in Aylsham and the surrounding area.
Flat roofs fail quietly. By the time water is dripping through a ceiling, the damage inside the roof build-up has usually been going on for months. The good news is that most flat roofs give clear warning signs well before a full replacement becomes necessary. Knowing what to look for - and what causes it - means you can act early and keep costs down.
We cover Aylsham and the surrounding villages for flat roof surveys, repairs, and full replacement using modern EPDM rubber systems. Before any price is agreed, we survey the roof and give you a written specification of the work needed. That way you know exactly what you're paying for.
If you can see any of the following from ground level or from an upstairs window, the roof deserves a closer look:
Flat roofs do not fail randomly. There are specific reasons why problems develop, and understanding them helps you have an informed conversation with any roofer you bring in.
Traditional three-layer felt - the material used on the vast majority of garage and extension roofs built before the early 2000s - has a realistic working life of around 10 to 15 years under normal conditions. After that, the bitumen oxidises, loses flexibility, and begins to crack under thermal movement.
Modern EPDM rubber membranes are a different proposition. A correctly installed single-ply EPDM membrane can be expected to remain serviceable for 30 years or more, and manufacturers back that with long product warranties. The material stays flexible at low temperatures and does not crack with age in the same way felt does.
A flat roof is not truly flat. Industry guidance (BS 6229) recommends a minimum fall of 1:80 - roughly 12 mm for every metre of roof - to ensure water drains away. When a roof is built without adequate falls, or when the structure settles over time and the falls are lost, water pools. Pooling water is the single biggest cause of accelerated membrane degradation, because no membrane is designed to sit under permanent hydrostatic pressure.
Blocked outlets make this worse. A single leaf can be enough to back up water across a large roof area. Checking and clearing flat roof outlets at least twice a year is one of the most cost-effective pieces of maintenance a homeowner can do.
Where a flat roof meets a vertical surface - a house wall, a parapet, a chimney - the waterproofing has to turn up the vertical face and be dressed into the wall. This junction is put under constant stress as the roof and wall expand and contract at different rates through seasonal temperature changes. On felt roofs, the upstand material becomes brittle and pulls away from the wall. Lead flashings, if used, can crack or lift if they were not properly dressed and pinned. Once a gap opens at an upstand, water runs straight down behind the membrane and into the structure below.
The membrane sits on a structural deck, most often 18mm or 22mm tongue-and-groove OSB or plywood on domestic extensions and garages. If water gets through the membrane and sits on the deck, the board swells, delaminates, and eventually rots. A roof that has been leaking for some time - even from a small split - may have deck damage that is not visible until the old membrane is stripped. This is why a thorough survey, rather than a patch-only approach, matters when a roof has a history of leaks.
A repair is appropriate when the membrane is otherwise sound and the problem is isolated - a split at an upstand, a damaged edge trim, a single blister that has not compromised the deck. Patching on a roof that is already near the end of its life tends to buy six months rather than six years.
A full replacement starts with stripping the old surface back to the deck, inspecting and replacing any damaged decking boards, checking that the falls are adequate, and then installing the new system to the manufacturer's specification. For EPDM on an extension or garage, the membrane is typically bonded to the deck using a contact adhesive, with the edges dressed over timber fascia boards and the upstands taken up at least 150mm above roof level. Trim and edge details are finished in aluminium or purpose-made EPDM edging strips.
Before any work starts on a flat roof in Aylsham, ask the roofer for a written specification. This should describe the decking specification if replacement is needed, the membrane system being used, the depth of the upstands, and how edge and outlet details will be handled. A roofer who can answer those questions in writing is one who understands the job properly.
Do not wait for an internal leak. If your flat roof is more than 10 to 12 years old and has not been inspected recently, a visual survey is worthwhile. If you can see ponding, blistering, cracking at edges, or staining on the wall below the roof, call us to arrange a survey. We cover Aylsham and the villages nearby from our base in Norwich.
Call us to arrange a flat roof survey in Aylsham - we'll tell you honestly whether a repair will hold or whether the roof needs replacing.
No obligation · We usually respond within 2 hours
Storm damage, active leak, damaged ridge - we aim to be on-site within 24 hours.
