RamchargerCentral.Com

Specifically anyone that has some experience with torchdown or modified bitumen, or whatever they call it in your neck of the woods.

I replaced the roof on my house the summer before last because the addition was leaking like a sieve. Shingles on what worked out to be a 1 1/4 pitch.  So that section got replaced with torchdown. I have never done any before and all the DIY and home improovement sites answered my questions with: "youl burn your house down" "hire an insured contractor" and "this is NOT a DIY project"

Those replies dont sit well with me so i forged ahead with instalation anyways.  The stuff is great to work with.  Lay out a row, peel the plastic backing off, apply fire till it melts into a tar and lay it down. I rolled it out with a heavy roller that was meant for linoleum tile.  After it was all down, i ran the torch over all the seams untill they melted and "flowed" together making the whole roof esentially a single thick rubber mat.

I was just up there to inspect everything and theres a 2' x 2' section at the corner that came loose and i can lift it like a flap.  Theres also a few small 4-6" spots in the middle that flex when i step on them. Theres also a few places where it is not stuck to the drip edge, however in those spots, it is still stuck quite well to the sheating.  Im not so worried about the small spots in the middle, but that big flap on the corner needs to be dealt with.

The obvious solution is to get the torch back out and show it whos boss, while using a small torch to re-melt the small spots back to the drip edge.

Whats on my mind is, is there suposed to be anything between the sheating and the roofing?  Normal roofing gets felt paper, but i diddnt do that because the purpose of the felt is to alow normal shingles to move while the expand and contract. The torchdown cant slide since its one piece and if i used it anyways, the roof would essentially be held on the house  with staples.

Any thoughts?  I am hoping that i just mis-judged how much heat i put into the material when i installed and these spots were just layed down colder then needed.

reheat it and make sure the wood is clean and you're good. 

There is a base sheet that gets nailed down with cap nails before the rubber goes down.  Usually it is only old homes that burn down.  Once you get it attached, you can coat the whole thing with silver roof coat.  It will help with heat gain in the summer and grreatly extend the life of the roof by deflecting the UV rays that attach it.

I did not put down any sort of base sheet.  Just stuck it down to the sheeting.

This silver roof coat stuff ... is it some sort of paint product?  This roof does capture and radiate more heat then a shingle roof.  To help with that, i put in 2 more roof vents and ran all vented sophit down the back of the house.  I also used some of those plastic pro-vent things so the insulation wouldnt block airflow.

The silver roof coat is a brush applied or sprayed product (paint on.)  The ventilation that you describe is designed to combat ice damming more so than venting heat, but it works that way too.  Sticking the roofing to the sheathing is ok, the base sheet helps when it is time to replace the roof. 

You can say that again. I don't want to ever have to tear off the ice guard I have put down. 

I did that once and it tore up the plywood! 

Sorry about the mini hi jack. I don't have anything to add for the roofing but I sure get tired of hearing these types of comments as well.

I was in car toys the other day checking out in dash nav and a drop down dvd for the Caravan. I was at the register  getting ready to pay for the equipment when the sales guy asked about installation. I told him I was going to do the install. Then the sales guy goes on his rant about this is not something that can be done at home blah blah blah  I was like WTF you don't know me or my abilities. So I ended up leaving the pile of gear on the counter and said you just lost a sale because of your arrogance.  I hate ignorant sales people or those that are so down on people that diy.

 

I've done that more than once at home depot.

Im with Mopar65 on this one.  

I buy/drive cheaper well used vehicles. After all the wiring nightmares i see from previous owners, i will never let anyone touch a harness on my car but me. And who is anyone to tell me that i am not able to do somthing?


Like those roofing guys, i took the fire warning serious. Ran the garden hose into the attic and left a ladder under the access hole. I also caulked the cracks between the new sheeting so that no embers could get out of sight/controll.