Often the place where water appears does not coincide with the actual place where the roof leaks. Nevertheless, when repairing the roof with your own hands, it is advisable to start looking for a leaky place exactly at the point where moisture is detected, and it is also necessary to investigate neighboring sections of the roof. To prevent trouble, you should regularly perform a preventive inspection of the roof in order to detect and eliminate leaks in a timely manner.
So, consider the repair methods of the most common roofing.
Tiled roof repair
Before a partial replacement of the roof is carried out, it is necessary to identify the place of leakage, and then proceed with the repair:
- You should start by removing the damaged tiles.At the same time, wooden wedges are hammered under the overlying plates, the damaged plate is hooked with a trowel and they try to remove it. When removing several plates in different roof layers, it is necessary to move from the bottom up.
- If a torn roofing material is found under the tile, the damaged area must be replaced. First, the nails that fasten the slats to the rafters are removed, after which a piece of hard cardboard is inserted under the slats. The cardboard is installed on one side relative to the damaged area.
- A part of the rails is cut out with a saw, while positioning the canvas at an angle. Move the cardboard to the opposite side of the damaged area and similarly continue to repair the roof by cutting the rails from the second side. With the destruction of the rails themselves and the integrity of the roofing material, the points relating to them are fulfilled (5, 6).
- Using a knife, cut out the damaged section of the roofing material with it. Take a patch, slightly larger than the size of the cut out area, and close the hole, after lubricating its edges with glue.
- The size of new rails is determined by measuring the distance between their ends, followed by cutting out the missing pieces. The cross section of the inserted rails must correspond to the cross section of the previous ones.
- The slats are treated with a protective solution and old and new are nailed to the rafters with non-corrosive nails.
- Install new tile plates, moving from bottom to top.
Slate roof repair
Slate is not only one of the most famous and used materials, but also one of the most durable of them: a slate roof can easily last 50 years.
Typically, slate roof repairs are required for two reasons:
- When cracks form.
- With complete rusting of fastening nails.
The last trouble can be avoided by using stainless nails.
Cracks and cracks are usually characteristic of materials that absorb moisture: as the temperature drops, the water freezes and thereby breaks the slate plate. With the appearance of cracks, do not pull with roof repair, should act immediately.
Advice! Minor cracks can be repaired with putty, while severely damaged sheets will need to be replaced.
A new slate sheet must be selected using the damaged element as a sample. If a sheet of a suitable size cannot be found, it is necessary to purchase an element of a similar thickness, but larger, and then cut a piece from it with the desired dimensions.
Until the full replacement of the slate sheet, you can install a temporary metal patch. To do this, a piece is cut out of aluminum or copper, 2 times the width of the slate plate and 75 mm longer than it.
Next, cement is applied to the middle of the sheet and the sheet is pushed under the destroyed area. If necessary, the sheet is hammered using a wooden beam.
Repair of slate roofs by replacing the destroyed sheet can be done as follows:
- Remove the damaged sheet by cutting off all the nails securing it.
- Cutting a sheet from a larger element begins with a 2 m outline of the sheet that needs to be replaced. The outline is made with a sharp chisel, then the workpiece is placed on the edge of the table and the part is broken off along the drawn contour. The edges of the resulting element are cleaned with sandpaper.
- Install a new plate in place of the damaged one.
Flat roof repair
flat ruberoid roofs, as a rule, consist of 3 layers of roofing material located on top of a wooden base.
The bottom layer is usually nailed to the base, and the next two are connected to the first with cold mastic or a special mixture based on bitumen.
The roof can often be covered with a layer of gravel, marble chips or pebbles, since this layer is able to reflect the sun's rays from the surface of the roofing material.
About once a year it is necessary to examine the roof for the formation of blisters and cracks. Swelling indicates delamination of the roofing and requires timely elimination.
If the place of swelling is dry, it will be enough just to apply a patch. If moisture is detected, then it is necessary to find the point of penetration of water, and then replace the entire area affected by dampness.
Special equipment for roof repair is not required when performing our flat roof repair method.
The elimination of swelling is carried out in the following way:
- First of all, a layer of fill (gravel) is removed from the swollen part of the roofing. Then the swelling is opened with a knife in a crosswise motion. When moisture is detected on the inner surface of the swelling, an incision is made so deep as to reach the wooden base. Dry the coating in the sun or use a building hair dryer to speed up the drying process.
- Using a spatula, cold mastic is laid on both sides of the incision. The coating is then pressed against the wooden base and the sides of the notch are nailed using 20 mm plaster nails.The pitch between the nails is usually taken at 15 mm.
- Next, a patch is cut out of the roofing material, which ensures that the damaged area is covered in any direction by 50 mm. The place of damage is covered with cold mastic and a patch is applied, pressing it to the roof surface. Then the patch is nailed with similar nails and the edges of the patch and nail heads are covered with mastic.
A flat roof scheme involves repairing a damaged area of a large area in the following way:
- The damaged area is cleaned of gravel and a rectangular or square area with damage is cut out. Dipping the knife in turpentine to avoid sticking, cut off layer by layer. When water penetrates through all roofing layers, the coating is cut out up to the wooden base.
- Using the cut-out section as a template, as many patches are cut out of the roofing material as many layers are supposed to be replaced. A layer of mastic is applied to the base and edges of the patch and the patch is placed in place, pressing it to the base. The second layer of mastic is applied over the laid patch and the second one is laid in the same way. Further, all subsequent layers are laid in the same way until the last of them is laid flush with the main roofing surface. Fix the patch with 20 mm nails, nailing them around the perimeter.
- Apply over and around the patch roofing mastics and a sheet of roofing material of a slightly larger area is placed on top. The sheet is nailed and the edges of the sheet and the heads of the nails are covered with mastic. If it is planned to cover the roof with gravel or chips, a layer of mastic is applied to the sheet of roofing material, a bedding is poured on it and the stones are pressed into the mastic using a flat board.
As you can see, repairing the roof of a house is quite a feasible task even for one person. Comfort and coziness in the house largely depends on the reliability of the roof. Don't forget about it.
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