Repair soft roof flat and pitched roofs can be carried out according to various technologies depending on the area and type of damage, selected repair materials. You can carry out the repair yourself by reading the recommendations in this article.
Preparation for repair
A soft roof made of bitumen-containing materials requires regular inspection - it is much faster, easier and cheaper to correct minor damage in a timely manner. You should not wait for cracks to increase and rotting of the cardboard base of the rolled covering, or for water to penetrate into the roofing pie through a deformed seam.
Inspection flat roof performed with outside, and Special attention attention should be paid to the drainage system, which is often clogged with debris or ice during thaws. The pitched roof must also be inspected from the attic side to assess the condition rafter system.
The most vulnerable soft roofing material- roofing material, bitumen layer which does not tolerate ultraviolet radiation and temperature loads, and the base is prone to rotting. This material, as an external coating, is today used on outbuildings and garages. Modern bitumen membranes are more resistant to external influences.
When inspecting the roof, it is important to identify possible leaks.:
- delamination or swelling of the roofing carpet;
- cracks, abrasions, tears or other damage to the outer layer;
- lack of tightness of seams and junctions;
- depressions on the surface in which moisture stagnates.
There are two types of repairs:
- current (damage exists on an area of less than 40% of the total roof surface);
- capital ( total area damage amounts to more than 40% of the roofing area).
Pitched roof repair
If, during an inspection of the rafter system, defects in the structural elements or sheathing are identified, they need to be corrected. To replace the damaged part of the continuous sheathing, you will have to dismantle the roof covering from roll material. A rotten rafter can be strengthened from the inside using two boards connected to each other.
Roofs, single or double slope, can be completed with a complete replacement of the covering. But in most cases, at the first stage of work, defects should be eliminated:
- open the bubbles using a cross-shaped cut and dry them well, and then seal them with bitumen mastic;
- fill cracks and small gaps in the bitumen layer with mastic.
Then one or two layers of new roll material are laid on top of the old coating.
For single mechanical damage to a soft roofing covering, you can simply apply patches - fragments of rolled material that are glued with bitumen mastic.
Flat roof repair
Major repairs of a soft roof begin with dismantling the covering. The old one should be deleted roofing carpet and evaluate the quality of the roof base. If the cement-sand screed of the roof of the house is largely destroyed, it will have to be dismantled and re-done. On the roof of the garage soft covering laid without screed, but it is necessary to properly seal the seams and fill them with bitumen mastic.
The base of the flat roof is thoroughly cleaned of debris and coated with primer. After it dries, a rolled bitumen membrane is laid using a gas burner. It is important to comply with the standard overlap of strips and check the quality of fusion by promptly removing air bubbles and correcting seam defects. The material is laid in at least three layers.
Major repairs require serious financial investments and labor costs. If possible, local repairs of damaged areas are carried out - patches of the required sizes are prepared and glued in the appropriate areas. In addition, the “old-fashioned” repair method is common. In this case, another 2-3 new layers of coating are installed on the existing roofing carpet with corrected defects.
This method is not recommended if the roofing carpet has multiple damages or 8 or more layers in thickness, since additional layers will significantly increase the load on the supporting structures.
Garage roof repair
Repairing a soft garage roof can be done with your own hands. To dismantle the old covering from the concrete base, it is recommended to use an ax: it is used to cut the carpet into strips, which are then rolled up. The surface of the base is cleaned with a broom and checked for cracks and dents. If necessary, a screed of cement-sand mortar is performed. It is important that the roof slope is at least 3-5 degrees to prevent moisture from stagnating on the surface.
If you plan to insulate the garage roof, a thermal insulation layer of foam plastic or other material is laid before screeding. Dried screed or concrete base roofs with seams sealed with mortar and filled with bitumen are treated with a primer - it not only increases the adhesion of the coating, but also protects the roofing carpet from moisture evaporation from building structures.
Laying strips of rolled material should begin from the bottom edge of the garage roof. The overlap of each subsequent row with the previous one is at least 10 cm. Installation of the following layers of coating is carried out with a shift so that assembly seams were not located on top of each other. The material is heated by a gas burner. The seams can be additionally coated with bitumen mastic.
If the outer covering is glassine or roofing felt, it is necessary to make a special protective layer: apply a layer of bitumen to the entire surface of the garage roof, cover it with sand or stone chips and roll it with a roller.
New technologies
Today, soft roof repair technology allows the use of liquid rubber. This method allows you to create reliable waterproofing flat roofs with a large surface area and a large number of connections to vertical structures.
There are different types of roofing mastic. Liquid rubber can be a single-component material or a two-component mixture, applied hot or cold.
The advantages of liquid rubber include safety for human health due to the absence of volatile substances and solvents, since the material is made of water based. In addition, the installation of such a coating is faster and of better quality than a rolled waterproofing membrane.
One-component liquid rubber For roofing works applied cold and can be used for self-repair roofs. Roof repair with liquid rubber, consisting of two components (polymer-bitumen emulsion and an aqueous solution of calcium chloride) requires the use of special equipment and is performed by professionals.
Liquid rubber for cold installation is used both in the construction and repair of roofing. If the work technology is followed, it can be used to obtain a monolithic surface, which is characterized by:
- strength;
- durability (warranty period of 20 years);
- waterproof;
- tightness of connections to vertical structures (parapet, pipes, ventilation shafts).
A 2 mm thick coating made of liquid rubber is superior in terms of tightness to a carpet made of fused material formed from 4-5 layers. It is important to apply the material to a dry, clean surface.
Liquid rubber has high adhesion and reliably sticks to concrete, brick, metal and other surfaces. This allows it to be used for repairing soft roofs by applying it over the old roofing carpet.
Liquid rubber coating can be used at temperatures ranging from -45 °C to +98 °C. No need to use during installation gas-burners or digesters, as for other bitumen-polymer materials. If liquid rubber that is not resistant to ultraviolet radiation is used for the external covering of the roof, protective painting should be performed.
Before you begin waterproofing or repairing a flat roof with liquid rubber, you should first complete all general construction works on the object. So that after the formation of a seamless bitumen-polymer membrane on the roof surface, no strangers did not move on the surface, much less carry out loading and unloading operations and transportation of building materials, equipment, etc. on the roof. This is possible if the liquid rubber membrane is protected from mechanical damage. For example, cover it with geotextiles and arrange a screed.
There was once a case when a contractor completed flat roof repair, technical supervision accepted the work. In August, all of a sudden, the customer reports leaks. We went out onto the roof and found that the covering was torn in many places.
It turned out that a week ago large stained glass windows were installed in the attic extension of the neighboring section of the house. Huge windows, weighing a hundred kilograms each, were lowered by crane onto the rubber roof, then several people, using their hands and carts, dragged these windows 50 meters, then installed them... The result is damage to the coating. Then it started to rain.
It’s good that all this came to light in the summer - the damage was eliminated, since the coating made of two-component liquid rubber can be easily “healed” with one-component liquid rubber. But things don't always work out so well. And the customer may not admit his guilt and the damage may be discovered in November, when it will no longer be possible to use liquid rubber.
By the way, one-component liquid rubber is an ideal product for spot flat roof repair, when it is necessary to seal only the places of junctions, cuts, punctures, holes and other damage, or those areas where there were swellings that were opened to dry or install aerators. For these purposes, you do not need to use equipment, just a bucket of water-based bitumen-polymer mastic and a spatula. But again, work can only be carried out in the warm season.
So, the decision was made to repair the flat roof using a two-component water-based bitumen-latex emulsion, better known as liquid rubber.
Where should you start?
You need to start by completing all construction and installation work on the roof and adjacent areas, installing all mechanisms, equipment, and fixtures.
Surface cleaning for flat roof repair
The condition of the roof can be very different. With capital flat roof repair It is very likely that you will have to dismantle the old roll covering (and many layers), and then the thermal insulation, all saturated with moisture, and then the screed, all cracked and crumbling. That is, you will have to remove the entire old roofing pie - up to the reinforced concrete floor slab. And a flat roof during these operations may look like the one shown in the photo below.
The roof base must be clean. It makes no sense to bring the installation and liquid rubber to the site before the roof has been cleaned. All construction debris, leaves, dirt, dust, etc. should be removed.
How to remove construction waste is more or less clear. Most often, “misunderstandings” arise - how thoroughly should the roof be cleaned of dust and how to do it?
Here it should be understood that if dust remains and there is a lot of it and it is not emulsified during priming, then it will turn out that the coating will be applied not to the base, but to the separating layer. Accordingly, there will be no high-quality adhesion, accordingly... well, etc.
The “degree of cleanliness” of dust for flat roof repairs with liquid rubber also depends on the liquid rubber raw material used. The fact is that some brands are very “capricious” or, let’s call it “demanding” in terms of fulfilling all technological aspects, incl. and the absence of dust. Those. when using two various types raw materials of liquid rubber when repairing a flat roof, the result - in this case adhesion - will be different.
Some brands of bitumen-polymer emulsion can be applied even to a very dusty base and the adhesion will be such that you can tear the hell out of it. And another material can be applied even to a more or less clean surface and the membrane can be removed even after a few days. Of course, in addition to cleaning the base, other factors are important for adhesion - but more on that in other articles.
So, how clean should it be?
Dust removal of the base when repairing a flat roof with liquid rubber
Most effective method- This is to blow off the dust with a compressor. In this case, it would be good to provide screens so as not to blow the dust down, but to drive it onto one section of the flat roof and collect it there. It is optimal for the compressor to be equipped with an oil and moisture separator ( excess moisture on a base that will be covered with liquid rubber is not needed). Each compressor usually has a built-in moisture separator, but this is not enough. It is better to install a separate oil and water separator at the outlet. Such devices are inexpensive and compact. In the photo below you can see the oil and water separator from the Italian company Camozzi.
A lot of dust and dirt accumulates at joints, junctions, and fastening points on the roof engineering equipment, pipes, antennas, air ducts, ventilation shafts, protruding metal structures, etc. Moreover, in these places the dirt, as they say, “cakes and grows together” with the base. You won't be able to blow it off with air. Such areas must be cleaned with special care, using wire brushes or brushes with dense, stiff bristles. You can use special brush attachments for drills.
From flat areas of a flat roof, caked dirt and dust can be removed by using pressure washing with water (various washing installations Karcher). But the roof surface must be dried after such washing. And it is better not to apply such washing to the old rolled base of a flat roof (if the old covering is not removed), because... some of the water will definitely get under the roll and this will only complicate further work on preparing the basis for flat roof repair.
If liquid rubber is to be applied on fresh concrete, then it is better to remove the cement laitance, because soon this layer will gather dust. Ideally, this problem can be solved by grinding the concrete. In this case, the upper fragile layer is cut off and pores are opened, which will be clogged when primed with a bitumen-polymer emulsion. If you want to do everything perfectly, use grinding machines on concrete. Well, or, at least, go through it with brushes.
Here, again, it should be understood that when using some brands of liquid rubber, you can get excellent adhesion on concrete, even if you remove the cement laitance with brushes (provided that a primer has been completed before applying the liquid rubber). For other types of bitumen-polymer emulsion, in order to obtain good adhesion, you need to clean off the cement lait more thoroughly.
Repair of a flat roof with liquid rubber on a wet base
After the surface has been cleaned construction waste, dirt and dust-free, you can proceed directly to repairing the flat roof with liquid rubber. But... Only if the base is dry.
If it is known that the base is wet, not even from above, but rather there is moisture inside, then this is fraught with troubles later. Therefore, such a base should be dried. This applies to a lesser extent if liquid rubber is to be applied over a new screed, and to a greater extent when flat roof repair carried out on the old roll base without dismantling it. If there are many layers of rolls (sometimes there are 20 or 30 layers), then a lot of moisture has accumulated in such a cake. just like the old ones roll coverings. And this water should, if possible, either be removed before applying liquid rubber or measures should be taken to ensure that this water is removed later, but so as not to damage the coating.
To learn how moisture accumulates in the roofing pie, what this leads to, and what should be done before applying liquid rubber when repairing a flat roof, read two articles on the site:
- Drying the base when repairing a flat roof
- Ventilation of the under-roof space
If all the preparatory stages are completed: construction work, the base is cleaned, dried, prepared and the ventilation issue is resolved, then the installation and liquid rubber can be delivered to the site.
When starting to apply bitumen-polymer emulsion, you should remember that installing waterproofing is only one stage in the technological chain for repairing a flat roof. Therefore, it is necessary to carry out a set of measures that differ depending on whether the roof is in use or not, in accordance with technological map roofs.
About everything you need for proper waterproofing, described in detail at www.B2bB2c.ru. If you need something more than what is stated on this and other pages of the site, then the service from the Sales Department is available to your attention -
Liquid rubber has recently gained increasing popularity as a material for roof waterproofing. Most often, liquid rubber is used to apply a coating to a flat surface. The use of liquid rubber on surfaces with a large area is one of the most convenient options, since when working with this material, it is very easy to apply a coating even to complex details of the roof topography.
What are the advantages of liquid rubber
It is worth noting that liquid rubber also has whole line undeniable advantages. These include, in particular:
- ease of application with high labor productivity;
- chemical resistance and environmental friendliness;
- Fire safety;
- reliable roof covering;
- high elasticity;
- no seams;
- resistance to various types of weather conditions and ultraviolet rays;
- complete protection from moisture;
- durability.
It is more convenient to use than roll and membrane coatings. Currently it is one of the most modern species roof waterproofing. Liquid rubber can be used both in the reconstruction of old buildings and in the construction of new construction projects. The most important advantage of this material is its versatility. The connection to the base occurs at the molecular level, due to which very high reliability of fastening is achieved, regardless of the texture or material of the roof.
However, to be fair, its shortcomings should also be pointed out. Firstly, the cost of liquid rubber is quite substantial. Secondly, it has a fairly high sensitivity to solvents and substances that include petroleum products. Thirdly, it will be possible to remove liquid rubber already applied to the surface, if such a need suddenly arises, only mechanically.
When covering the roof with liquid rubber, you should take into account the specific application of this material.
The most obvious way to see the coating of a roof with liquid rubber is when applying such a coating to roofs that have complex design stingray, or when working on large areas. The peculiarity of liquid rubber is its very wide scope of application, and this material can be applied even to an old coating: it only needs to be cleaned of debris.
Roof coating with liquid rubber is carried out in one of three ways:
- bulk;
- coloring;
- cold spraying.
However, regardless of which method is used, before starting work, you should thoroughly clean the base on which the liquid rubber coating will be applied. remember, that preparatory stage is very important, since the final result largely depends on it, so the old coating should be cleaned as much as possible of grainy coating and the exfoliated roofing material should be completely removed. You need to remove all the dirt, all the debris, and then get rid of the dust. Applying liquid rubber over old roofing material requires the mandatory installation of deflectors that draw moisture out of the roofing pie. In addition, in some cases it is recommended to reinforce the waterproofing layer with geotextiles.
Let's move on to a more detailed look at how to apply a liquid rubber coating to a roof.
- One of the ways to apply it is the pouring method. After clearing the surface of debris, you need to saturate the base with bitumen emulsion. The thickness of this layer (also called primer) should be from 1 to 2 millimeters. After this, liquid rubber is immediately applied to the base. It should be applied in certain portions, evenly distributed over the surface using special rollers.
The thickness of this layer should be from 2 to 3 millimeters. It should be noted that bitumen-latex mastic only needs a few seconds for it to begin to set, but in order for the job to be done efficiently, the applied layer should be allowed to sit for at least 5 minutes. After waiting the required time, you can begin applying the next layer - in most cases this is already finishing layer. Bulk method used for flat surfaces, helping to level the roof itself as much as possible. For pitched roofs, the use of this option is, as a rule, not practiced.
- The next step is to apply the base layer - at this stage rubber mastic no longer diluted with water. Using a spatula, apply the composition to the surface so that you end up with a layer 2 to 3 millimeters thick - a wide brush will also work for this work. The applied layer will dry completely after at least 48 hours. To ensure that the application of the second layer is as uniform as possible, it is recommended to apply it perpendicular to the direction in which you applied the primer - with this order of work, the liquid rubber will fully comply with all the declared characteristics. Note that this method best suited for pitched roofs and small surfaces, when, from a financial point of view, it is simply unprofitable to use mechanical equipment.
- And finally, the last method is the spraying method. As mentioned above, first of all, the base is carefully prepared, after which you can begin to directly treat the surface with liquid rubber by spraying. To do this, a special device should be connected to 2 containers. One of them contains a polymer-bitumen emulsion, the second contains calcium chloride, which acts as a hardener. Both of these components must be fed into the nozzle at the same time, they are mixed before spraying onto the surface.
Surface treatment with liquid rubber by spraying is in most cases used over large areas or on sloped roofs. The advantages of this method include, first of all, the speed of work and the quality of applying the rubber layer. The applied material hardens almost immediately, meaning there is no need to wait for the rubber to harden. In addition, the spraying method can be used on any surface. The material here is applied using a sprayer, which means that you can handle even the most bizarre designs without any problems.
Every roof needs some type of covering material that serves cutting edge protection of the building from atmospheric influences. Therefore, the construction industry constantly offers new products on the coating market, and one of them is liquid roofing. About her operational properties and features will be discussed further.
Bitumen, as many years ago, is the basis for many roofing materials, especially for flat roofs, due to its specific chemical and physical properties.
New products are constantly being developed based on it, and one of them is liquid rubber. This is a bitumen-polymer containing one or more components.
Strictly speaking, “one-component” compositions can be called such only conditionally, since they represent ready-made mixtures various substances, ready for use and not requiring mixing or other additional operations.
At the moment, liquid rubber for roofing is one of the most technologically advanced and easy-to-use materials.
It is used both independently and as waterproofing for other types of coatings - and, unlike classic films and membranes, it is applied over the base.
There is practically nothing on which it would be impossible to apply liquid roofing due to its high degree adhesion (penetration and adhesion).
Among them:
- Monolithic and precast concrete
- Cement strainer
- Tree
- Metal
- Roof tiles (including as a bottom waterproofing layer)
- Slate
- Old coatings made from roll materials
At the same time, a special advantage of the material is that on the roof where liquid roofing is applied, the roof as such can be of any shape, and with the most complex geometry.
The advantages of this mastic include:
- Creating a continuous roofing carpet without seams
- No connection problems at the locations of various roof structures
- High elasticity
- Durability (20 years or more)
- Ease of application and fast drying
- High water resistance even in extreme conditions
- Chemical and biological resistance
- Wide operating temperature range (-60 - +110 °C)
- Environmental safety (can be used even indoors)
- Low material consumption (1-3 kg/m2)
The material can also be applied in almost any way:
- Brush
- Roller
- Spatula
- Rubber mop
- Spray installation
At the same time, high fire safety is ensured, since this roof is installed in a cold way, without the use of open fire.
Hardening occurs almost immediately after application. You can walk on the coating, and complete readiness occurs in a day.
Minimal preparation is required, similar to the installation of a conventional screed or surface painting: cleaning from dirt, degreasing, and, if necessary, a primer
Important information! Degreasing and priming work must not be carried out using substances based on petroleum products
A particularly effective area of application for the material is roof repair with liquid rubber. As a rule, it is performed on the old coating made of rolled materials.
It is noteworthy that in this case, both when completely covering the old roofing carpet and when applying repair patches, removal of the old coating is required only in places where there is chipping. Even bubbles, after cutting them, can be filled with mastic.
Advice! In order to save money when installing a roof covering, you can use roll material as the main material, and use bitumen-polymer mastic to treat difficult areas - abutments, vertical and inclined surfaces, etc.
Of course, no material is without its drawbacks; liquid roofing also has them.
These include:
- Relatively high price
- Sensitivity to solvents and other petroleum-based products
- Possibility of removing the coating, if necessary, only mechanically
However, the advantages still outweigh: the speed of the device, the ability to apply to vertical surfaces (without subsequent sliding under the influence of heat sun rays) – this material has no equal. Special mention should be made of high elasticity.
Thanks to it, when the temperature changes environment, even the most drastic one - the roof will work together with the base, which will not allow damage to occur either in the covering itself or in the places where the carpet adjoins various elements of the roof.
When installing additional protective layers (substrate below and hard covering - screeds, cement tiles etc.) on such material as, for example, a reinforced liquid roof can be used.
Although mastic is usually produced in black, there are also colored options. It can also be tinted with silicone or water-based dyes.
The remarkable properties of liquid rubber (although in fact it is not rubber, it does not necessarily contain rubber) make it a universal and very practical coating.
And if you additionally coat it with protective paint against exposure to ultraviolet radiation, such a roof will last much longer than the 20 years stated in its characteristics.
The Technoprok company proposes to carry out using liquid waterproofing TECHNOPROC for the production of seamless roofing. The bitumen-polymer material TECHNOPROC is universal, suitable for the production of new roofing coverings according to concrete screed directly at a facility under construction, for repairing roof waterproofing over old coatings with rolled bitumen materials, for sealing seams and junctions.
Production of roofing waterproofing coating
Technology for the production of soft flat roofing from TECHNOPROC - 100% seamless horizontal waterproofing, at the same time vapor barrier and sound insulation of the roof, which allows you to avoid additional costs when performing roofing and waterproofing work.
Professional installation of a soft roof using the spraying method allows not only to carry out roofing work of any scale in a short time at temperatures from + 5ºC, but also to quickly repair the roof, including waterproofing the junctions and producing a new roofing covering on top and without removing the old one.
At Technoprok you can buy waterproofing equipment necessary for applying liquid rubber, which is most convenient for performing roofing work directly on the soft roof of a building under construction or for performing waterproofing repairs.
Liquid rubber for waterproofing roofing works
Liquid rubber TECHNOPROC is a non-toxic, fireproof, environmentally friendly material that significantly reduces temporary and financial expenses for roofing and waterproofing work. The bitumen-polymer coating is absolutely waterproof, highly resistant to chemical and atmospheric influences, and to sudden temperature changes.
However, many people prefer the installation of a soft roof according to old technology from weldable materials and roll waterproofing floors for green roofs. If your choice fell on rolled roofing and weld-on waterproofing materials, be sure to pay attention to how and with what quality the seams of the roll are welded.
Modern technology for the production of seamless roofing coverings for soft roofs is based exclusively on the use of high-quality liquid waterproofing materials and professional performance of waterproofing roofing work.
A unique roofing material, polymer acrylic mastic MASTER ROOF, produced by PAZKAR (Israel), is always available in a warehouse in Moscow. Double-layer waterproofing roofing mastic- white acrylic material, heat-resistant and frost-resistant in the Russian climate, UV-resistant. Thick paste, ready to use, is applied airless spray installations high pressure or simply a rubber scraper, ensures reliable quality production top layer of soft roofing covering professionally and with a guarantee.