AboutBrad Zacharia Expertise All aspects of residential Roofing. This includes shingles and flat (low slope) roofs. I have knowledge in the installation as well as the design of roofs from an engineering standpoint.
Experience I have been doing roofing for 40 years. This was my father's business and I took it over in 1980.
Publications I have written responses to artcles that I felt needed a response to and those responses have been published in roofing trade magazines.
Education/Credentials BSEE Drexel University
www.ZachariaRoofing.com
Question Dear Brad,
My husband and I live in South Florida and are currently re-roofing our home due to damage sustained from the last 2 hurricanes. We finally were granted our permit after months of going back and forth with the city and the inspector. We have a portion of the roof that is flat. We purchased the correct materials and were told by the inspector that we needed to roll out the smooth ontop of the #75 base sheet and then the torch down. Is this correct? Please help us as we are in a desperate crunch against time being that hurricane season is right around the corner. What are the correct steps to installing the flat roof portion of the roof?
Thanks in advance,
Monique and Tim
Answer It sounds like you have gotten your hands on a torch. Don't burn the house down.
A fully adhered roof is the best but you can't torch directly to wood. The next best thing is put a base sheet down first using cap nails. Then you can torch to that. It doesn't matter what kind of base sheet as long as you won't burn through it. You can also get a peel & stick base sheet so it will be fully adhered. There is only one thickness for that. If you can't get the base sheet for modified just get a peel & stick for underlayment for shingles.
Since you are dealing with high winds I'd say don't use the nailing method for the base sheet as it can easily be sucked up in high winds. Use the fully adhered method for each layer.
You do not roll out the modified and then torch it. That would be if you were only torching the seams which would be wrong. You torch the back of the entire roll as you roll it out slowly. That way the roof is fully adhered.
You can also use glue-down modified. It's messy but safer.
