Do you need two men to bitumen a flat roof to level it off ?

diyattempter · 3 Nov 2010

We have a flat roof over our bathroom on the ground floor and we have a dip in the roof causing moss and pooling of water. This water has now found a way into the corner of our bathroom directly underneath the dip. Just had a roofer out to quote for levelling off dip and he said that he would need to bring someone with him to help as health and safety rules state that two people need to work with the bitumen. Is this correct or just tryingto get more cash out of us. He quoted £350 for the job which he said wouldn't take long.
Also is this something we can do ourselves eg filling the dip with cement so that water runs off into the tunnel and out as it should do.
Please any advice ?

noseall · 3 Nov 2010

If you are not happy with the quote.....

GET MORE QUOTES!

Alastairreid · 3 Nov 2010

The question you should be asking is why is the roof dipping!

That would normally be a sign of failed or failing decking.

you cannot fill the dip out with mortar, that would be a waste of time.

it doesnt sound as though your roofer knows what he is doing either, whats he going to do ? fill in the dip with tar? thats a waste of time as well...

Give the roofer a wide berth and get another couple of quotes and proper advice.

^woody^ · 3 Nov 2010

You wont get a dip in the roof out with just bitumen.

The timber deck needs sorting out

SASroofer · 3 Nov 2010

In doing this you will only solve the pooling temporarily.

Listen to the lads above me, get the roof sorted properly, but not from the roofer you just got quoted £350 for a ten minute bodge!

foxhole · 4 Nov 2010

May have joined the boards between joists instead of the over them allowing it to sag. Agree with the other posters, no point on a temp fix to a roof.How would you explain that to insurers if it causes further damage?

flatroofer666 · 7 Nov 2010

diyattempter said:
We have a flat roof over our bathroom on the ground floor and we have a dip in the roof causing moss and pooling of water. This water has now found a way into the corner of our bathroom directly underneath the dip. Just had a roofer out to quote for levelling off dip and he said that he would need to bring someone with him to help as health and safety rules state that two people need to work with the bitumen. Is this correct or just tryingto get more cash out of us. He quoted £350 for the job which he said wouldn't take long.
Also is this something we can do ourselves eg filling the dip with cement so that water runs off into the tunnel and out as it should do.
Please any advice ?

i bet its chipboard decking and being a bathroom its a condensing problem on the underside of board causing it to degrade and sag between joists...filling dips with bitumen will just compound the problem and have no positive results at all....save your money and find the "real" problem of sagging boards

Cumbrianroofer30yrsexp · 10 Nov 2010

Personally i never work alone on a roof,no matter what the job.As for pouring bitch on your roof mmmmm get another roofer to sort the job properly.Just think how much all that bitch weighs for starters?it may level things out short term but will just dip with the weight in no time.Go to the root of the problem and fix permantly. ADDED #### = b itch as in short for B itchy aka bitumin but wont let you write bitch

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Do you need two men to bitumen a flat roof to level it off ?

flatroofer666

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