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Roof used as a deck - what is a good approach

8K views 3 replies 4 participants last post by  steve1234 
#1 ·
I am building a family room under my existing (rotten) deck. What is the best approach to a new roof and deck. This is a failrly heavily used deck (think not only foot trafic but sliding chairs and tables, bar-b-q and its grease, possibly even an occasional dropped knife). It will be about 14' X 18' and because of height restrictions (insulation and supports eat up a lot of height), I only have about 1/4" per foot slope available.

Is there a roof surface that can take this kind of abuse?
First plan is to put a separate deck on top of a roof - it will take most of the abuse and will also dry off faster after a rain, however there will be pine needles, bird food, garden dirt, etc that will go through the cracks to restrict drainage. It may be possible to have the deck at least partly removable to hose the junk out on occasion. Any deck needs to be supported on the the roof at frequent intervals - not enough clearance to span the whole way with both a roof and a deck. The deck over the top will make sunlight and wind non-factors.
Of course I want to minimise cost, but I also don't want ceiling water damage below (ever).

Thoughts on how to do this? Metal, plastic, rubber, built-up, or ???.
 
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#4 ·
We had a second story door open up to a flat deck that was the roof of an attached garage. When we bought the house the deck was trashed and significant water damage in the garage ceiling. We had it rebuilt and the deck was finished with a textured fiberglass coating made for such applications. As part of the rebuild we had it pitched for water drainage, but it wasn't much since we intended to use it as a deck. The material was installed over a layer of plywood that was attached directly to the joists.

The texture provided traction in wet weather. We had chairs table and a ping pong table on the deck and it appeared to hold up well. We sold the house after 6 years with the deck and never had any issues. I refer to it as a "fiberglass walking deck" which I belive is what the company called it. Sorry but I don't remember the exact name of the product.
 
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