Lake Elsinore, CA
Flat and low-slope roofing in Lake Elsinore
A pitched roof sheds water. A flat roof is a shallow tray that has to be watertight everywhere at once, which is a much harder thing to build.
Describe the flat roofing job
Three questions, then the address. Up to three Lake Elsinore contractors who do this work.
Your request is in.
We are matching it now against roofing contractors working in Lake Elsinore and the surrounding area.
- Today, usually within the hour. The first contractor calls or texts the number you gave us. ASAP requests go out first.
- Up to three of them, no more. We cap it at three so you can compare without your phone melting.
- They come and look. Estimates are given after somebody has been on the roof, not over the phone.
- You decide, or you do not. There is nothing to cancel and nothing to pay us.
If you do not hear anything today, check your voicemail and spam folder — contractors often call from a mobile number.
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.
- Which membrane, and how the seams are joined
- Whether a coating is being sold as a repair
- How the flat section is flashed into adjoining walls and pitched roofs
- Drain, scupper and overflow provision
- Whether water ponds anywhere after rain
Modified bitumen is the rolled, torched or self-adhered system you see on older flat additions. Cheaper, and shorter-lived.
Drains and scuppers need to be checked every season. One blocked drain can hold enough water to matter structurally.
Look at the flashing where the flat section meets a wall. That transition leaks far more often than the field of the membrane does.
Locally
Then, less dramatically: morning fog that sits on the roof until mid-morning. Damp that arrives every morning and leaves by lunchtime is worse for a roof than rain, because nothing ever fully dries between one and the next.
About flat roofing here
Should I take the cheapest quote?
Only if it is the same roof. Most large gaps between quotes are scope gaps. Ask the cheapest contractor which of the other quotes items they have left out, and why.
What time of year is best to re-roof in Lake Elsinore?
Here, the long dry run from May to October is the easy window. November through March is when the phone rings hardest, which means less flexibility on dates and less room on price.
Should I repair or replace?
Rough rule: if the covering has more than about five years left and the damage is confined to one area, repair. If it is at the end of its life or you are patching the third leak in two years, you are paying instalments on a replacement.
Are gutters included in a re-roof?
Normally a separate line. It is the one add-on that genuinely costs less when done at the same time.