Bellflower, CA
Flat roofs do not shed water. They hold it back.
Flat sections on an otherwise pitched house are where the leaks are. Additions, porch roofs, and the bit over the garage.
Describe the flat roofing job
Three questions, then the address. Up to three Bellflower contractors who do this work.
You are on the list.
No provider in Bellflower is taking requests through this service yet. We are lining them up, and yours is kept until one can.
- Nobody gets your details yet. Your request stays with us and is not passed to any company.
- One email when someone can help. When a provider covering your area can take it on, we email you once and ask whether you want that company, by name, to contact you.
- Deleted after 90 days. If nobody can take it on, or you do not say yes, your contact details are deleted 90 days after your request.
- You decide, or you do not. There is nothing to cancel and nothing to pay us.
Nobody will call you about this request unless you say yes to a company by name.
Before you let anybody on the roof
The things worth pinning down on a flat roofing job. A contractor who has not raised them has not looked properly.
- How the flat section is flashed into adjoining walls and pitched roofs
- Drain, scupper and overflow provision
- Whether a coating is being sold as a repair
- Which membrane, and how the seams are joined
- Whether water ponds anywhere after rain
Ponding water is the enemy. Anything still sitting there forty-eight hours after rain is a design problem, and tapered insulation is usually the answer.
Modified bitumen is the rolled, torched or self-adhered system you see on older flat additions. Cheaper, and shorter-lived.
Coatings can buy a sound roof several years. Coating a failed roof buys you a wet roof with a fresh top coat on it.
Locally
Then, less dramatically: morning fog that sits on the roof until mid-morning. It is why two identical houses on the same street can be ten years apart on the same roof, depending on which way they face.
About flat roofing here
Do I have to hire anyone?
Not at all. Plenty of people use this to find out what a job costs and then do nothing for a year. That is a perfectly reasonable outcome.
What should I do to prepare?
Clear the driveway, protect attic storage from falling dust, and plan for two loud days. Agree in advance where the dumpster goes and who sweeps for nails.
Do I need a permit?
Almost certainly, for a full replacement. The contractor should pull it, and the fee should be a visible line on the quote rather than a surprise.
How much deposit is normal?
A third at most, and never the full amount. Pay the balance when the job is finished and you have walked it. Some states cap the deposit by law.
Find out what it costs
Free, no obligation, and your details go to no company until you say yes.