San Juan Capistrano, CA
Flat and low-slope roofing in San Juan Capistrano
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 San Juan Capistrano contractors who do this work.
You are on the list.
No provider in San Juan Capistrano 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
- Whether water ponds anywhere after rain
- Whether a coating is being sold as a repair
- Drain, scupper and overflow provision
- Which membrane, and how the seams are joined
Single-ply membranes — TPO, PVC, EPDM — are heat-welded or taped at the seams. The seams and the terminations are the whole job.
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.
Drains and scuppers need to be checked every season. One blocked drain can hold enough water to matter structurally.
Locally
Behind it: the autumn offshore winds, which find anything already loose. These winds are not constant, which is the problem. A roof gets nine quiet months and then one night at fifty miles an hour, and whatever was marginal goes.
About flat roofing here
How long should a roof last here?
Rated life and real life are different numbers. Here, salt and sun together tend to take the low end of any rated life. Ventilation and the quality of the installation move that more than the brand does.
I have solar panels. What happens to them?
They come off and go back on, and that is a separate cost, often handled by the solar installer rather than the roofer. If the roof is near the end of its life, do the roof first — removing and refitting panels twice is money wasted.
Are the contractors licensed and insured?
Contractors have to give us their state licence number and proof of liability and workers compensation cover before they can receive requests. You should still ask to see current certificates yourself before work starts — a licence can lapse between checks.
Is moss on the roof a problem?
It matters more than it looks. The damage is not the moss, it is the permanent damp underneath it. Kill it and brush it off gently; never pressure wash asphalt.
Get the roof looked at
No cost. We email you once when a provider near you can take it on.