Wednesday, June 19, 2013

Porch Roof Went Splitsville...
...But Everything's Back Together

Though nowhere near as bad as places like Oklahoma, we have had a fair amount of rain and wind here in Chicago of late.  The other day on my way out the door I noticed that it was raining on the inside of the porch..."This can't be good," I thought.  After the storm I inspected the roof and found that there were indeed a couple of tears in the membrane.

Fortunately, this is a relatively easy repair!  SAFETY FIRST: This roof is flat and accessible by a doorway, and the tears were not near the edge of the roof.  Don't go climbing up a ladder to save a few bucks if you don't know what your doing, and certainly don't do it alone!  A storm earlier in the year caused some interior damage that I fixed, but the roof leak was fixed by a team of professionals with the right equipment to get up on the main roof and make a long lasting repair.

I didn't need much in the way of materials, just some roof repair tape, a bucket of roof sealer, and a cheap brush (you can try to clean asphalt out of a good brush if you want, but I have better things to do with my time!).  You'll also need a broom and a drywall knife or some sort of blade to cut the tape. I already owned a broom and a knife, and the rest of the materials totaled about $25 at a home improvement store.

Materials overshadowed by the worker :)
(c)2013 Eric E. Paige
The first step is to sweep the area clean.  Next, place the tape over the affected area. It's basically like a giant band-aid for your roof. You cut it to length, remove the paper to expose the adhesive and press it into place.

(c)2013 Eric E. Paige

(c)2013 Eric E. Paige

(c)2013 Eric E. Paige

The final step (yes it really is that easy!), is to brush on a coat of roof sealer.  You may have noticed that this roof is heavily checked (the asphalt has shrunk so the surface is all pebbly), so I used a thick coat to help fill in any gaps between the tape and the surface.  

(c)2013 Eric E. Paige

(c)2013 Eric E. Paige
It might not last for ever, but it will buy some time.  It definitely was quick and easy; in fact, it took me longer to put together this blog post!  Stay tuned, I am working on an article about the wall and ceiling repair warranted by the spring storm!

There's more home repair and DIY projects here, click here to learn how I turned my sunroom from 70s paneling into a modern space.

To learn how I turned a discarded stool into a side table, click here.

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