AboutBrian Atkins Expertise I can answer any question related to all type of roof repairs (especially tile roof repair and flat roof repair work). I can also answer most new roof or roofing related questions with the exception of questions in regards to single ply roofing (PVC) and standing seam or metal panel roofing. I have little or no experience with those applications.
Experience I was first introduced to roofing by my father who was started his own roofing career in Orange County CA. By the time I was 10 years old I knew what most general roofing materials were and had some idea of their purpose. At the age of thirteen I started working during the summer for my Fathers roofing company Atkins Certified Custom Home Roofing. After graduating from La Quinta High School in 1988 I immediately began working full time as a journeyman roofer doing roof repair work and complete new roofs. My area of specialty and interests has always been on the roof repair side of the business. My Dad did an excellent job at teaching me the basics of roof repair. He showed me some of the techniques that were taught to him from old time roofers that took him under their belt when he was an apprentice. In 1992 my Dad signed for my first license and formed a partnership with me and I started my first roofing company in Irvine CA. This is where started to make my own niche in roofing by specializing in roof repair, dry rot repair, termite damage repair, and full roof restorations. In 1997 I took the CSLB testing and qualified for a license on my own and moved my roofing business location to Lake Forest, CA 92630.
While working for myself and for my father’s company I would guess I have personally done more than a thousand repairs and roofed several hundred homes completely here in Orange County.
Currently I own and operate South COunty Roofing company serving the following areas of Orange County Anaheim, Anaheim Hills, Aliso Viejo, Buena Park, Brea, Cypress, Capistrano Beach, Costa Mesa, Corona Del Mar, Dana Point, El Toro, Fountain Valley, Fullerton, Foothill Ranch, Garden Grove, Huntington Beach, Irvine, Laguna Niguel, Laguna Hills, Ladera Ranch, Laguna Beach, Lake Forest, Lemon Heights, Mission Viejo, Orange, Newport Beach, Newport Coast, Rancho Santa Margarita, San Clemente, Seal Beach, Silverado Canyon, San Juan Capistrano, Santa Ana, Tustin, Trabuco Canyon, Villa Park, Westminster, Yorba Linda
I've installed a 22 1/2" x 34 1/2" Velux curb mounted fixed skylight in a bathroom I'm remodeling and was lucky enough to have a big rainstorm show me that my flashing needs work before I got the drywall up.
The skylight is mounted on a 6" curb on a flat tar and gravel roof. I cleared away the loose gravel about 12" from the curb, installed cant strips, and covered the whole thing with a product called Protecto Seal 45 (http://www.protectowrap.com/products/pdf/Protecto_Seal_45_Literature.pdf). I think the flashing itself is doing it's job but suspect that the seal between the flashing and the existing tar and gravel roof is not sufficient as I am now getting a little stream of water entering from between the curb and the roof.
Any tips on a better flashing approach for a flat roof or a product/technique to bond the flashing to the roof?
If you have water getting under the repair its the edges of the repair (where the new meets the old) where the problems has started. I would flood the area with water and make it leak again. Then take a blower and get the water off the off or away from the area. Then scrape back the perimeter of your new repair with a pry bar start on the side where you believe the water is coming from.
You should be able to find moisture or even water under you repair as you already have water going into the house from under the repair (if you are sure about that).
The trick with apply cold sealant to a tar roof is getting it to stick. Sometimes when you put some on wet you just assume that it is bonding to the surface when it is not. To get the new products to bond with the old you should scrape off the old repair to the base of the skylight. It will get messy but it should only take a few hours at the most. It will take far longer to fix the dry wall and paint every time it rains.
After you have scraped the surface clean with a prybar or scraper you need to let what was under there dry. You should then apply a coat of asphalt primer to the entire surface that you want the new coating to stick to.
Then apply a coat of asphalt emulsion to the surface. Let it the the recommended amount of time and then the coating.
That should do it.
Keep in mind that when you cut a hole in a tar roof you should spud the rock around the entire repair area. Spudding the rocks means to take a small flat or pry bar and rub the surface of the roof until the rock comes loose and you reveal the asphalt under the rocks.
The rocks are sometimes embedded into the asphalt to keep it from coming off so it is difficult to spud the roof but it does need to be done. The reason is because the coating will stick to the tar part of the roof (if properly cleaned and primed) much better than it will bond to the rocks. Sometimes it just wont bond to the rocks and that may be the problem you are having.
Brian
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QUESTION: Brian,
Thanks so much for your answer. Very thorough and helpful, although I did have one follow-up.
I now understand the process of spudding the area around the skylight (which I didn't do before!) as well as the need for priming the old material before anything will stick to it. I defintely think a combination of those two things was the problem. My remaining question is, should the asphalt emulsion be applied under the flashing membrane or over it and extending up the skylight curb? So, from the bottom up, will the layers be plywood, existing tar roof, primer, flashing membrane with bitumen adhesive, emulsion or will they be plywood, existing tar roof, primer, emulsion, flashing membrane with bitumen adhesive?
Thanks again for your help. You certainly deserve a high rating for the expertise you offer.
Dave
Answer If you would like to secure the flashing to the roof in addition to the other sealing I would do the following:
After you scrape back the roof I would get the flashing as reasonably clean as I could. Then spud the area you feeling necessary. You may only need to do an area that is 12" out from the flashing. Although it looks like you initial repair was bigger so you may just want to do that whole area just to make it look good as well.
The flashing to roof bond would be accomplished by lifting the flashing around the skylight curb and putting the primer on under and over the flashing and then applying some wet patch (roofer's tar that is specifically made as wet patch as opposed to dry patch) under the flashing. Do it so that the flashing perimeter around the skylight is completely set in wet patch and it slight oozes out from under it. Smooth it out and then add a thin layer of wet patch on the outside now extending over the flashing and stopping at the curb. The mastic should extend onto the roof about 4 inches minimum. Then you need to get a roll of 4" yellow webbing (mesh). You can find these products at a local roofing distributor. You want to cut strips of this and work it into the wet patch. The idea is to uniformly embed it into the mastic. This will give this connection added strength and it will resist cracking.
After you have that embedded you can add one more very thin layer of tar. You want just enough to hide the webbing. You don't even want to see any signs of the webbing at all.
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