Replacing or Repairing a Roof : Recommendation

I have an extension on the ground floor which has a Parapet-type roof. It’s been a pain in the rear since day one and often leaks into the roof when water backs up or puddles. It’s been repaired at least 5 times (by pros and otherwise) but I am starting to think the entire idea of a Parapet roof was a bad one. This latest round of snowstorms/rain has caused what appears to be a 4 inch block of ice to form up there, which I assume will melt directly into the house. Need some advice/recommendations on whether it is salvageable or whether I should just have it replaced entirely. I’ve become sick of waking up to water dripping on my forehead. Also any recos for a great roofer for the replacement/repair are very welcome. Thanks!

MyGoodEye

in About Brooklyn 10 years and 7 months ago

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riva | 10 years and 7 months ago

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No more repairs, your wasting money! Get a free estimate and tarp for now until weather permitting its feasible to renovate. You will need a full rip off and removal of all wood down to framing. Then re-frame and re-pitch the roof properly. Close off the drainage pipe if in the middle of the roof and lead water to a new drainage (gutter and leader ) location at the back of the home on the exterior. Then once the framing and new plywood are installed right ensuring the proper drainage to back home, close roof with a reliable rubberoid flat roofing system. WWW.WORKWITHRIVA.COM

shadow01 | 10 years and 7 months ago

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Hello mygoodeye I know of a contractor who can help you out with your project his name is Dan he is very reliable and affordable try giving him a call he can be reached at 718 485-1044 or 718 902-9213 oh and he is licensed. Good Luck.

MyGoodEye | 10 years and 7 months ago

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Thanks for all the input and advice, Steve. I can see the perspective about “accidental complacency” and I often do tons of research in order to be better informed, speak the language and to be semi-confident I’m not being taken advantage of. I may be able to continue to create stop-gap solutions – I already know more than I care to about Karnak, sealant “tape”, etc… but my instinct tells me that the best solution is to entirely eliminate the problem by replacing the roof with one that will overhang the extension (we have the space to do so on all exposed sides) or to rebuild it entirely with steel/sag-proof joists – and that is beyond my humble abilities. You SURE you’re busy? Hahah. Thanks man, appreciate the insights! – David

thetinkerswagon | 10 years and 7 months ago

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and let me add something to what I say about finding someone who is not a roofer to locate this issue. contractors get complacent. we all do. we see the same things all the time and sometimes we forget stuff that we were taught or saw one time 10 years ago. it all begins to look the same. someone with little or no experience on this will have to go read a lot on the net and in books to learn about this and they may very well find the problem before the roofers who do the same thing day in and out. Best thing is, you find the problem and you tell them what you need done. after studying this, you may find you can fix it yourself. I am not a roofer but if this were my house, i would be figuring it out and fixing it. steve

thetinkerswagon | 10 years and 7 months ago

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ok, you need to find someone besides a roofer to help you decide what is going on here. I am not that person as I am not climbing up there and I am busy. But be aware that leaks are tricky as they travel around under the membrane or deck and they run along joists and other things until they drop later. I am not sure I fully understand how the drain is situated at the back, but be aware that when these clog, if they are off the back of the house, they can force water up between the brick and membrane. it happens in my house and the man I mention behind me, that is how it enters his. also, roofers love this weather to work as all the ice damns make problems and they go make money. they can probably do something now, but I think I would wait. also, we had a dip in a roof which had a guarantee on it (there were no settling joists; it was on steel/masonry construction) and we had the roofer come back and fix it. I was not there the entire time he was working, but I do believe he cut the membrane and padded the insulation beneath it and reapplied membrane. problem solved. You are going to have to pay someone to look at this roof or learn so much about it that you will tell the roofers what has to be done (contractors “love” this when customers do this). I have seen so many things with roofs and heard so many stories and even dealt with one in a condo property I managed after college – which we thought we fixed many times and it is still leaking today (over 20 year later and more repairs managed by my replacements) that I can tell you, understanding what is wrong here and how the water is getting in is more important that any of he work any roofer will be doing. I am not a roofer. I have dealt with these problems on my own and on multiple times in buildings I have work for – meaning I have tracked the leaks and had them repaired by others. once you find the source of the problem, it will all come together. Steve

MyGoodEye | 10 years and 7 months ago

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Thanks for the input! Were I home, and it not cold as hell out, I’d take some pics. Generally, the roof is supposed to be pitched to the rear corner of the extension, where it drains through the wall and into the rear yard. This drain-hole has been clogged every now and again by leaves and the like, so I do get up there to clean it as best I can. The extension is South facing, so it gets plenty of sun. The underlying problem, I believe, is simply that the roof wasn’t built properly in the first place. It has long had an issue with pooling because I’m fairly sure the roof supports have sagged. This makes a nice big puddle and doesn’t allow the water to flow properly to the drain-hole (forgive my lack of terminology). There have been occasions when this drain-hole has leaked through the wall and it’s been repaired a few times. Some other time roofers have insisted that they’ve made it as “water-tight as a swimming pool”, but obviously that’s not the case. Generally, the leaks appear to come from in or around the drain-hole, which gives me a severe distaste for the entire idea of a drain-hole… ha. In this most recent case, I am guessing (hard to tell under the ice/snow) that the drain-hole got blocked up just enough and the pooling got deep enough to combine into a huge block of ice that will, no doubt find a way to leak into the house. So, in a nutshell, I think I have at least 3 problems… – a bad pitch complete with sagging – bad sealing/flashing – a drainage hole that’s not big enough It’s been redone so many times I’m losing count – all (as Dylan621 says) by people more than happy to take my money. If I had my druthers, I’d have the the damn thing rebuilt so that there’s no drain-hole and just have the roof drain into a gutter and then into the yard alleviating the possibility for water to creep between the walls… but I’m no roofer, so maybe there is a proper way to rebuilt/renovate this current setup. Can a roof be replaced/repaired in this sort of weather (once the ice melts, I suppose)? Or am I stuck until Spring?

thetinkerswagon | 10 years and 7 months ago

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where does this drain? through a roof drain and into the sewer? does it have an outlet along a wall, say the back wall? or is the parapit missing along one wall and it slopes to that void and to a gutter? I am asking these question as several things can happen and I am not sure I understand the layout here or some use of the terminology. Parapit walls themselves leak where the roof meets the brick and that must be flashed properly. I am sure if there were a void where they meet and the void were not properly filled and the snow got deep enough, you will get a leak. also, you can get ice dams in certain places. A lot of people will go up and clear them but I do not do on my own house and could understand why you may not want to. if there is a roof drain and the drain is getting iced up, something has to be put over it, a grate that rises above the roof by several inches and is wide to keep the ice away so water will get into the drain. Some people shovel snow away from their drains (in commercial). if there is any ice clog inside the drain, a electric heat strip will help. The man behind me has a drain on the back of his house and it never gets any sun. by mid winter it is fully clogged and the water backs up under the roofing membrane and runs into his house. he installed a thermal strip and it keep is from freezing. I am not a roofer. I have just thrown out some ideas based on what I think you are saying and based on some things I have done or seen others do. Steve

dylan621 | 10 years and 7 months ago

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I’ll add, since resident2 reminds me, that Eminence pulled off enough of the old layers of my roof in certain spots to build it up to avoid pooling water and have a good pitch.

resident2 | 10 years and 7 months ago

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If there are too many layers of roofing felt, flashing and other patching on the roof it will throw off the pitch of the roof. Creating drainage pools and in this cold weather ice damns so that the water cannot drain away to the leader, probably in one corner of the roof. It is probably time to take the whole roof off, put in a new base that is pitched correctly for optimum drainage and if it is on a north facing side perhaps even install heat tapes on the leader to make sure that it does not get blocked by ice. Water that cannot flow (pitched) to where you want it, will find its own way to somewhere you probably do not want it, these are the laws of general science..

dylan621 | 10 years and 7 months ago

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We had a great experience with Eminence Construction f/k/a Fatos Roofing. They are a father and son team who obviously take a lot of pride in their work. They are through and their prices are competitive. Call Nick (the son) at 917-577-2350\. We used them to put a new layer on our flat roof after using two other roofers who are highly recommended on this website but were unable to repair our leaks depite gladly taking our money to fix it.