Flat roofs · Los Angeles County
Flat roof repair and coatings in Los Angeles
Torch-down, cap sheet and roof coatings for additions, duplexes and apartment buildings. If it ponded last winter, or the scupper spills down the wall, start here.
We repair and replace the flat roofs of additions, duplexes and small apartment buildings across Los Angeles. A flat roof is meant to have a slight fall toward a drain or a scupper. When that fall is lost, water sits, and standing water is where a flat roof starts to fail.
What goes wrong on a flat roof
- Ponding. Puddles still on the roof two days after the rain stops.
- Open seams and blisters. Laps in the cap sheet or torch-down open up, and trapped moisture lifts blisters in the sun.
- Parapet walls. The cap on top cracks, or the corner where the wall meets the roof opens, and water gets into the wall.
- Drains and scuppers. Leaves block them, or their flashing lets go, and the water backs up or spills down the stucco.
- A tired coating. It chalks and cracks, and the roof under it starts to take water.
Repair, coating or a new roof
Small failures get a repair, like an open seam sealed or a scupper reflashed. A roof that is sound but worn on top can take a coating. A roof that is wet underneath, or patched until there is little left to patch, comes off, and new torch-down or cap sheet goes on. We tell you which one yours needs on the free roof check.
Working on a flat roof
On the roof check we go over all of it: the drains, the scuppers, the parapet seams, and the dirt rings where water stood after the last storm.
Torch-down and coatings both need a dry roof, so we book flat roof work for the dry months whenever we can. If it's leaking now, a roof leak repair visit stops the water first. The lasting repair waits for a dry roof.
What the price turns on
- A repair, a coating or a new roof
- The size of the roof, and how many old layers are already on it
- Wet boards under the roof that have to come out
- Parapets, drains and scuppers to flash
- How we get up there: a ladder at the back, or the stairs of a three-story building
After the first storm
We call once the first real storm has passed. If the same place leaks during the first winter, we come back without a new bill.
The work carries 10 years on our workmanship.
Flat roof questions
Is a coating enough?
Sometimes. A coating can add years to a sound roof that's worn on top. It won't fix a roof that's wet underneath, and a coating laid over a wet roof traps the water in.
Water spills down the wall instead of going down the drain. Why?
Usually the scupper or the drain is blocked, or the roof has lost its fall toward it, so the water finds the wall. We check both on the roof check, along with the flashing around the opening.
Do you work on duplexes and small apartment buildings?
Yes. Additions, duplexes and small apartment buildings, in torch-down, cap sheet or a coating.
The first-rain visit
A roof repair isn't finished until it has rained on it.
Dry months
Rain coming?
Book the free roof check while the schedule is open. We ring you within a few hours to pick a day, and your quote in writing follows within 48 hours of the check.
Wet months
Water in?
Call now and a roofer comes out the same day to stop it. Put a bucket under the drip while you wait.