Paramount, CA
Flat and low-slope roofing in Paramount
Almost every flat roof problem is a drainage problem wearing a disguise. Standing water finds the one seam that was not welded properly.
Describe the flat roofing job
Three questions, then the address. Up to three Paramount contractors who do this work.
You are on the list.
No provider in Paramount 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.
- Drain, scupper and overflow provision
- Which membrane, and how the seams are joined
- How the flat section is flashed into adjoining walls and pitched roofs
- Whether a coating is being sold as a repair
- Whether water ponds anywhere after rain
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.
Coatings can buy a sound roof several years. Coating a failed roof buys you a wet roof with a fresh top coat on it.
Locally
Behind it: the marine layer keeping the north slope damp. Slopes that never get direct sun stay wet for hours after the fog burns off, and that is where moss, lifted shingles and soft decking start.
About flat roofing here
I rent. Can I use this?
You can submit it, but the owner has to authorise any work, so the useful move is to get the landlord to make the request or to give you permission in writing first. Contractors will not start work for a tenant.
It is leaking right now. What do I do?
Move what you can out of the way, put a bucket under it, and if there is a bulge in the ceiling put a small hole at its lowest point to let the water out in one place rather than bringing the whole panel down. Then mark your request as an emergency — those go out first.
What should I do to prepare?
Move the cars out, take pictures off the top-floor walls, cover anything stored in the attic, and put pets somewhere else for the loud days. Expect nails in the driveway however careful the crew is — ask whether they run a magnet at the end.
Are gutters included in a re-roof?
Usually not, unless the quote says so. If they are near the end of their life, replacing them during the re-roof is meaningfully cheaper than doing it later, because the crew and the staging are already there.
What is it going to cost?
No cost. We email you once when a provider near you can take it on.