Flat roof repair in Newark

Roofer Newark is an independent referral service, not a roofing company. The site’s operator receives each call and form request and passes it to an independent local roofer who can contact you about the job. Any quote, and any work, comes from that roofer.

Why flat roofs are everywhere in Newark

Flat and low-slope roofs are common on city rowhouses and multi-family buildings. In the East Ward, which includes the Ironbound, the housing is mostly large apartment buildings and rowhouses. A flat roof is efficient on an attached building: it sits between shared walls, it is hidden behind the parapet, and it gives room for vents, hatches and equipment.

The trade-off is drainage. A pitched roof sheds water quickly. A flat roof has a slight slope toward a drain or a scupper in the parapet, and it relies on that path staying clear. Newark gets an average of 46.6 inches of rain and melted snow a year at the airport station, so the path gets a lot of use.

What your flat roof is covered with

Knowing the covering helps you understand the repair. If you can get onto the roof safely through a hatch, or see it from a neighbor’s window, a photo is enough for a roofer to tell.

Covering	What it looks like	How repairs are usually made
Modified bitumen	Rolled sheets, often with a granule surface, overlapping at seams; applied by torch or adhesive	Patches of the same material over cleaned, primed areas; seams re-sealed
EPDM (rubber)	Large dark rubber sheets with glued or taped seams	Rubber patches and seam tape bonded with the right primer
TPO	Light-colored single-ply sheets with heat-welded seams	Patches of TPO heat-welded over the damage
Built-up roofing	Layers of felt and asphalt, often topped with gravel	Damaged layers cut out and rebuilt, or the area covered with a compatible patch
Roof coatings	A painted-on layer over an older roof, often white or silver	Spot repairs with compatible coating; the base roof has to be sound first

Patching with a material that does not suit the covering can cause trouble. Ask the roofer what the roof is covered with before they start, and what they plan to put on it.

The problems that bring the calls

Ponding water

Water left standing on a flat roof well after the rain has stopped is called ponding. It usually means a low spot in the deck or a blocked drain. Standing water keeps the covering wet, adds weight and finds any weakness in a seam. The fix depends on the cause: clearing the drain, building up the low spot, or adding a drain or scupper.

Blisters

A blister is a raised bubble in the covering where air or moisture is trapped between layers. Summer heat can make it grow: the July average high at Newark Liberty is 86.9 degrees, and a dark flat roof in full sun runs hotter than the air. A blister that has not cracked may be left and watched; one that has cracked or is spreading is cut out and patched.

Open seams

Every flat roof made of sheets has seams. Heat, cold and movement work at them. In winter the January average high is 40 degrees, and the covering shrinks and swells with each freeze and thaw. An open seam lets water run under the sheet, where it can travel a long way before it drips through a ceiling.

Where the roof meets the parapet

Where the flat roof turns up the parapet wall, the covering is flashed up the brick and capped by coping at the top. Cracked coping, loose flashing or tired mortar lets water into the wall itself. In a rowhouse, that wall is often shared, so a parapet leak can show up as damp plaster on a top-floor wall rather than a ceiling stain.

Drains, scuppers and leaders

Leaves, grit and the occasional ball or bottle end up in roof drains and scuppers. When they block, the water has nowhere to go but back across the roof and over the parapet, or into the building. Clearing them is a small job that heads off bigger trouble, and they are worth checking on every visit.

Penetrations

Vents, pipes, hatches, skylights, chimneys and equipment curbs all pass through the covering. Each is a joint that has to be flashed and sealed, and each is a common leak point.

Repair, re-cover or replace?

A flat roof can usually be repaired where the trouble is local: one blister, one seam, one parapet, one drain. When problems turn up across the surface, the conversation changes. A roofer may talk about a coating over a sound older roof, a new covering over the old one where that is allowed and the old one is dry, or a tear-off down to the deck. Which is right depends on what is under the covering. Ask the roofer whether they found wet insulation or soft deck, and how they know.

There is no fixed age at which a flat roof has to go, and this site does not quote lifespans or prices. If replacement comes up, the roof replacement in Newark page explains what to get in writing.

Permits and attached buildings

New Jersey’s ordinary-maintenance rule lets an owner repair or replace the existing roof covering on a detached one- or two-family house without a permit. Many flat roofs in Newark sit on attached rowhouses or larger buildings, which that roof item does not cover. For an attached rowhouse, a multi-family building, or any structural work such as replacing deck boards or joists, ask the City of Newark’s construction office whether a permit is needed before work starts. The Newark roofing permit guide goes through the rule.

Working on a shared roof line

On a row of attached houses, one roof often runs into the next with nothing between them but a low wall or a line of flashing. That raises practical questions worth asking before work starts:

• Where exactly does your roof end and the neighbor’s begin, and how will the roofer tie the new work into theirs?
• Is the leak coming from your side or from the joint between the roofs?
• How will the roofer reach the roof: through your hatch, by ladder from the street or yard, or from a neighbor’s building?
• Where will debris go, and who cleans the street, yard or neighbor’s roof afterward?

A word with the neighbor before work starts saves trouble later, especially if the repair has to cross the line.

What to tell the roofer about a flat roof

• Where the water shows inside: a ceiling, a top-floor wall, or around a skylight or hatch
• Whether it leaks in every rain, in wind-driven rain, or when snow melts
• Whether water stands on the roof after rain, and where
• How old the covering is, if you know, and what it is made of
• Whether there is a roof hatch, and whether equipment such as condensers sits on the roof
• Whether the roof joins a neighbor’s roof with no wall between them

Keeping a flat roof healthy

• Keep drains, scuppers and gutters clear, especially after leaves come down
• Look at the roof after heavy storms, from the hatch if you can do it safely
• Note any water still standing well after rain and tell the roofer
• Keep foot traffic, grills and furniture off the covering unless it is made for it
• Have new equipment, satellite dishes or vents flashed by a roofer, not just screwed down

Before you hire anyone, check that the contractor is registered with the New Jersey Division of Consumer Affairs and read the checklist on roofing contractors in Newark, NJ. For the general picture of leaks on any kind of roof, see roof repair in Newark.

Questions people ask