DIY Doctor UK DIY Forums

Hi, Does anyone know much about this at all please? There seems to be a few options from different companies, and I'm not sure as to which ones are better.

I have a flat roof of the bitumen and tar type, which is painted with silver reflective aluminium paint. Despite being maintained and resilvered regularly, the heatwave last summer gave it a drubbing. It now has lots of small bubbles, some of which have popped, and a few larger ones, roughly the size of a jam jar lid. It's about 15 years old, but seems to be past it.

Ideally I should replace the roof, but I can't afford to have that done. Liquid roof seems to be the best viable affordable option. I need to get rid of the bubbles somehow (cut them all out, which will take time), and seal any cracks I find in the roof, and then apply a liquid roof over the top, which should then protect it if I understand this right.

If anyone has any useful info on using liquid roof products, or if there's any bad ones best avoided, I'd be very grateful for any help :)

Hi daziwhy,
You don’t say what the construction of the roof is - if it’s a concrete roof then your proposed lancing of the boils is correct. Before you re-coat it’s probably best to level the repairs with rapid setting cement.
If it’s a felt roof cutting through the boils is a bad idea. Do a patch and mend job until you can afford a re-roof.
Regards S

stoneyboy wrote:Hi daziwhy,
You don’t say what the construction of the roof is - if it’s a concrete roof then your proposed lancing of the boils is correct. Before you re-coat it’s probably best to level the repairs with rapid setting cement.
If it’s a felt roof cutting through the boils is a bad idea. Do a patch and mend job until you can afford a re-roof.
Regards S

Hi, THank you for the reply. It's a bitmen & felt roof. It seems to have lost it's heat tolerance, and theres been a big crack now forming along the centre (in addition to all the boils) now that the weather is getting hotter. There are three strips of the bitumen-felt on the roof, one of which is strangely almost entirelt unaffected by the boils.

I have spoken to one of the companies who makes liquid roof, and they said to get rid of the boils before coating with liquid roof, but it is just one company out of a few that I've spoken to, and I've no idea how their product fairs in comparison with others.

I dont have the luxury of waiting, if I did, I'd have a fibreglass roof or something better than what I have now down the lines, but there is alot of work due to start on my house soon, and this needs to be factored in at it's viable point. I have to get the flat roof sorted before I do other things afterwards. Which is why I was consdiering the liquid roof as it was the only option I could afford, espcially with all the expense for the other works currently.

Hi daziwhy,
Thanks for the response.
You could coat the roof with one of the fibre reinforced roof paints once you have done repairs.
Have you looked at epdm roof covering? This may be as economic as painting the roof.
Regards S

stoneyboy wrote:Hi daziwhy,
Thanks for the response.
You could coat the roof with one of the fibre reinforced roof paints once you have done repairs.
Have you looked at epdm roof covering? This may be as economic as painting the roof.
Regards S

I was looking at some of the fibre paints previously, and they seem quite similar in idea to the liquid roof. The liquid roof I was looking at so far requires a fibre mesh be imbedded in the first coat.

I am planning on having solar panels added to the roof at some point, and the fibre paints seem to say not to walk on them once they're set, so I'm not sure how they'd cope with solar panels, especially as the panels are held in place by weights.