Quality of Installation with an EPDM Roof

Flat roofing has historically been considered to be a bit of a Cow Boy industry where the expectations are fairly low and many roofs start to leak sometimes in less than 10 years, this is partly because the felt and bitumen type products have a fairly short life, deteriorating very quickly in the damp British climate but also because anybody could set themselves up as a roofer with very little training, because most flat felt roofs are covered in stones to protect the felt against sunlight it is very easy to hide poor workmen ship.

With EPDM this all changes because no longer can poor quality materials be blamed for leaks, the life of the roof is mainly effected by the quality of the installation, no longer can poor installations be hidden by stones, this is not necessary with EPDM

With an epdm roof it is very important that the installation is carried out by a certified trained installer to the correct specification, it is vital that the surface preparation is carried out to a high standard and that the correct specialist glues are used.

All the manufacturers including Firestone have training schemes usually through their distributors, no Epdm roof should be commissioned without seeing the certification of the installer, if customers do this ultimately it should drive out the untrained self taught roofers and the flat roofing industry should loose it’s cowboy reputation.