Spongy Flat Roof

One of the most common questions we receive here concerns roof soft spots.

Spongy flat roof.

Roof surfaces where ponding occurs will have a spongy feeling when touched. And that extreme heat can damage both your shingles and the wood decking below them and causing your roof to feel soft when walking on it. If the roof feels spongy beneath the puddling area it means water has seeped through to the lower layers of the roofing material. You don t want to put new sheathing on top of spongy sheathing.

How attic ventilation keeps your roof cool and healthy. If you have spongy roof sheathing you have to remove the roof sheathing before you install new materials above the roof sheathing. It is a structural modification so it will involve engineering and a development application. Most flat roofs are made of asphalt rubber.

These are cracks are caused by poor workmanship freeze thaw conditions and surface stress. And building a house in sydney is around 1500 per square metre. This can be a result of the plywood sheeting becoming wet from rain above or from moisture not being able to escape from below and leading to mold mildew growth on the wood. These roofs work well but you do need to inspect them on occasion for cracks and other signs of damage.

These will often appear spongy. Before coming up with a repair plan it is essential that you understand why this roof failed. Without good attic ventilation your roof gets extremely hot. Inadequate attic ventilation can also cause your shingle roof to feel spongy or bouncy.

When inspecting your flat roof look for splits or long cracks that if present will be visible parallel joints of your insulation. Most roofs have plywood sheeting underneath the roofing tiles or shingles. These soft spots usually form when the layer underneath gets soaked due to gaps in the shingles. A conversion of a flat roof to a pitched roof is not a simple exercise.

For clarity flat roofs actually have a slight slope to allow rain water to drain off the roof but they seem flat when compared with more traditional steeply sloped roofs. Flat roofs which are mostly level are common on older homes and in arid environments. This will need to be repaired before the roof can be built up in. If you can tell there s a soft spot on your roof this most likely means that the substrate below the roofing material is damaged and deteriorating.

The roof work on a new house can be about 20 to 30 of the total house cost. That dip in the roof with a soft spot indicates that you should have your roof repaired asap.