[1985gt]

Hello,

We bought a property last year, with the garage and storage room has flat roof. No need to say it's a 100% stupid design in this North West Pacific Region.

I really hate when people say things like this. What do you do for a living? Let me go a head and say how dumb of an idea that is. Moving on, a properly designed and installed low slope roof will out last 90% of any sloped roofing. The issue is it's expensive, and people are cheap. So to blankly blame the roof is incorrect.

The roof is coated by bitumen material.

The question is coming:
Its surface cracks, or 'alligatoring' in more spesfic terms, due to its age. (I am not sure how long since last installation)
The current condition of some bad part is pretty similar like this picture I found on internet (i have attached).

What you have is a top mopped/flood coated roof, once the roof layers are (felts/Cap sheet) are installed a coating of asphalt is mopped or poured to the top of the surface. Once that is aged a short while it is then alumacoated. These are the protective layer of the roof system. So times and IMO a better way is to added pea gravel in to the flood coat. Either way something has to cover/coat the poured asphalt otherwise it cracks like you see there.

How can I treat it by myself, to extend its life at lower cost? And what product is more proper to apply? Any idea?

Thanks guys

Does the roof currently leak? If the roof does not have any leaks then all you need to do is clean the roof very good. Broom brush and wash. Let it dry for at least 24 hours and coat it with aluma coating. You can get fibered and non fibered aluma coating. Various manufactures have different rates of Aluminum in the coated that effects reflectivity. We rarely use fibered Aluma coating, and to be honest the last time we used some it was Henrys, like was stated before plan to coat ever 3-5 years. 3-5 years is what should be expected, and this is generally what happens, people do not keep up with the coatings. It is a maintenance item. I wouldn't fool around with mastic in the cracks as it is not needed. Any repairs you do with mastic the mastic will need to cure for 30 days before coating.

When I apply the coating, is the final effect really sensitive to the surface cleaness and moisture? If so, I have to wait until next summer or spring.
It doesn't leak rightnow, except a little bit drip on one of the draining point with water accumulated on the roof.

I found this on homedepot website, homedepot is only one block away.
http://www.homedepot.com/p/Henry-4-7...5019/100094951
Is it work? What does the 'aluminum' mean?

Yes the roof must be very clean and free of debris. Clean it well and wait at least 24 hours if in a good sunny area before coating. Fix the leak first, there shouldn't be any leaks even with standing water. A low slope roof should be water proof, they should be able to hold water. Unlike a sloped roof that is water repellent/shedding.


The Henry coating is fine, like I said the fibered is not needed but if that's what they have that's what they have. The non fibered will be a little less expensive.

Post some actual pictures of your roof. Specifically the leaking area.

 

[1985gt]

Thanks mate.
It doesn't really leak currently, except a little bit drip at the connection betwwen the roof surface and a draining point on the center, if water ponded arround.

I can't stress how much you need to fix the leak, no matter how minor it seems. Post a picture of it.

Recently it rains alot, and leaves fell on the roof. A line of tall poplar trees beside the building. So there is alot of debrits, especially in the fall, and the debrits clog the draining points sometime, I have to clear it manually.

Does the drain have a strainer?

I will post some actual pictures later. The picture from internet that I posted looks pretty similar with some parts of my roof.
Should I wait until rain season over to do it?
What't the best way to clean the surface throughtly?

Here is a link to homedepot roof coating catalog, which one work for me?
http://www.homedepot.com/s/roof%20coating?NCNI-5

Here is a picture I just took. It shows some cracks on the surface.

I'd stick with the the fibered or non fibered aluma coating. From that one picture it doesn't look terrible.

 

[1985gt]

The only symptom is a little bit water stain on storage floor beneath the draining hole.
I tried to put a piece of steel wool on the hole, acting as strainer. In summer it works okay. But in fall, the debrits and leaves will clog the steel wool even quicker. So I removed it weeks ago, letting tiny debrits flushed away freely.
The building is too close to tall trees. The guy who designed it is a pure moron.

So no strainer... I'm going to guess that there is no clamping ring either. Does it drain to a down spout or to a sewer drain? A picture would really help. Aluma coating will not help you solve this leak.

The guy who designed it is not a moron. The issue really has nothing to do with being a flat or sloped roof. If it was a sloped roof would you be complaining about cleaning out the gutters? Or calling that person a moron?

What its starting to sound like is the roof has been a "lay over" and the existing drain clamping ring is buried, a picture would really help see what we are dealing with. A leak is a leak and it needs to be addressed before any coating is applied.

Stiff bristled broom and water, no soap or anything is needed.

When your getting a pic of the drain "hole" get a few others, over all pictures and what not.

 

[1985gt]

No such drain clamping ring. There are 2 new draining holes in the center of the roof, due to roof deformation and pond in center (roof sag). Just brake a hole on the roof and installed pipe beneath.
It will be much better if has even 5 degree slope.

So you broke a hole in the roof and put a pipe under it and then call low slope roofing a dumb idea? Of course that is going to leak, there is a lot of steps in to making a drain work properly and a whole lot of ways to make it leak. IMO I wouldn't waste a penny coating the roof until it's fixed properly.

 

[1985gt]

Most elastomeric coatings will not hold up to ponding water. Alumi coating sort of will. You will triple the cost doing elastomerica and poly matting. Another down fall of elastomeric coatings is that the asphalt will bleed through the coating so it will not be as white. They do of course make some that do not allow the asphalt to bleed through but it adds more to the cost.

Again I say fix the leak,

Coat the roof in alumicoating.