Flat Roofs and EPDM in Plymouth

Plymouth has more flat roofing than most cities its size

That is not an opinion, it is a consequence of history. When the bombed centre was cleared and rebuilt to Abercrombie’s plan from 1947 onwards, the architecture that went up was deliberately horizontal. The city council’s own City Centre Conservation Area appraisal describes it plainly: most buildings there have “a horizontal emphasis to their massing and articulation and flat roofs”, with the pitched and hipped roofs of the churches at the south-east corner called out as the exception.

The listed buildings of that era make the same point. The former Barclays Bank on Armada Way, built 1950 to 1952, has its roofs described in the Historic England listing simply as “flat”. The Civic Centre, 1958 to 1962, is defined by its butterfly roof. This is a city where flat roofing is mainstream, not an afterthought on the back of a house.

What we do

• EPDM single-ply rubber for extensions, garages, dormers and porches — laid in one piece wherever the span allows, so there are no field joints to fail.
• Falls and drainage designed in rather than hoped for. Standing water is the single most common reason a flat roof fails early.
• Upstands and abutments where the flat roof meets a wall or a pitched roof. This junction is where most of the leaks we get called to actually originate.
• Edge trims, drips and outlets detailed so water leaves the roof where it is supposed to.
• Warm and cold deck build-ups specified to suit the structure, not just whatever is on the van.

Repair or replace?

Old felt roofs can sometimes be patched to buy a season, and occasionally that is the right call. But if the deck below has gone soft, or the falls were wrong from the beginning, an overlay just hides the problem. We will open it up, tell you what the deck is doing, and give you a straight recommendation. See also roof repairs and guttering and rainwater goods.