Roof types · Flat & Low-Slope
Ponding Is the Diagnosis
Membrane roofs on additions, porches and flat sections. They fail at penetrations and where water sits.
What you have noticed, the roof type and roughly its age. We will tell you honestly whether it is a repair or a replacement.
Repair
Partial repair is more often permitted than homeowners think
Tile
A tile roof is a different repair problem from shingle
Documented
Photographs and reports your insurer can actually use
Licensed
General contractor, licensed in the state of Florida
Water that does not leave
A low-slope roof is designed to drain, and where it does not, water sits after every rain. Ponding degrades the membrane, loads the structure and finds every weakness in the surface. Areas that pond are almost always the areas that eventually leak.
The other reason low-slope roofs get misdiagnosed is that the leak inside can appear a long way from where the water entered. Water tracks along the deck, follows a joist, and appears at whatever low point it reaches — which is frequently the middle of a room rather than under the failure.
What to look at
- Where water ponds after rain — the clearest diagnostic.
- Drains and scuppers, and whether they are clear.
- Penetrations and their flashings.
- Terminations where the membrane meets walls and edges.
- Previous repairs, which are frequently the current problem.
Why previous repairs are often the problem
A low-slope roof that has been patched repeatedly accumulates layers of mastic, patches over patches, and materials that were never compatible with the original membrane. Each patch has edges, and edges are where water gets under.
It is common to find that the current leak is at the perimeter of a repair made two years ago rather than at any original defect. That is worth knowing before agreeing to another patch on top of the last one.
How we handle it
- 01Identify ponding before deciding a scope.
- 02Clear and repair drains as part of the work.
- 03Detail penetrations and terminations properly.
- 04Correct slope where the repair allows it.
- 05Document the condition for you and your insurer.
Look at the roof an hour after rain rather than on a dry day. Ponding is the single most useful diagnostic on a low-slope roof and it is invisible once the water has gone.
Said plainly
Where we stop
A membrane laid over an unresolved ponding problem fails in the same places. Where slope cannot be corrected, we will say what that means for the roof's realistic life.
FAQ
Common questions
- What is the best diagnostic?
- Where water ponds an hour after rain. It is invisible on a dry day.
- Does ponding matter?
- Ponding areas are almost always the areas that eventually leak.
- Where do flat roofs leak?
- Penetrations and terminations, and previous repairs.
- Can a new membrane fix ponding?
- Not if the slope is unresolved. It fails in the same places.
Local specifics
The Repair Rule
Florida amended its roof repair provisions in 2022. For roofs built to a sufficiently recent code edition, repairing part of a roof may no longer require replacing all of it.
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The Post-Storm Market
Major storms bring genuine capacity into a region and they also bring operators who leave once the work dries up.
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Insurance Documentation
What a homeowner can demonstrate matters as much as what happened, and the documentation is created at the assessment rather than afterwards.
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Gulf Exposure
The Gulf coast has its own exposure profile, and roofs here weather differently from those on the Atlantic side of the state.
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How We Work Here
We are based on the other coast, licensed in the state of Florida, and we work here on scheduled projects.
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More roof types
Concrete & Clay Tile
The dominant roof across much of Southwest Florida, and the one most often misjudged from the ground.
Read more →
Metal Roofing
Increasingly common on the Gulf coast, and it fails at the fasteners, the penetrations and the terminations rather than in the panel.
Read more →
Shingle Roofing
Common on newer residential construction, and the system where the repair-versus-replace argument arises most often.
Read more →
Next step
Find out what is actually wrong with it.
An inspection, photographs of what we found, and a written scope. If the honest answer is that it can wait another season, that is the answer you will get.