Ponding Water Epdm Roof Leak

While it is always good roofing practice to provide positive drainage for any roofing assembly epdm membrane offers greater safety margins in the event of deflection and subsequent ponding.

Ponding water epdm roof leak. Ponding water leads to leaks ponding represents perhaps the single greatest threat facing a flat roof. Ponding or standing water is where the water collects on the roof and has not drained within a couple of days. Ideally the roof should be designed with a slight slope. As defined by the national roofing contractors association ponding is characterized as any water that remains on the roof for longer than 48 hours following precipitation.

Stress on the post s base and surrounding epdm would say that ponding water is damaging things. Eventually the ponding water spots on an epdm roof will cause leakage issues. Um you might not want to puncture a synthetic rubber membrane. We illustrate how choice of the wrong roof edge flashing combined with wrinkles in the original epdm installation led to both frequent maintenance and frequent leaks in the original roof.

If the business owner starts to notice that there are a number of puddles on their epdm rubber roof after a hard rain they need to act. The roofing manager insists that this is not a problem and because there is a continuous layer of epdm and no joins it is perfectly acceptable and it will never leak. This article describes an epdm roof installation study roof repair history spanning fourteen years from original rubber roof installation and the mistakes shortcuts that led to leaks and trouble to an extensive tear off and re roof repair that was made along the entire problem roof s lower edge. A small cut or puncture in a roofing membrane may cause minor damage on a well drained roof surface but the same puncture located in an area of standing water may allow significant water infiltration causing damage to the roof insulation roof deck and building contents.

The most obvious problem with ignoring ponding water is that it can lead to leaks. The longer that these puddles sit without evaporating the more an issue they will begin to cause. From there the water will be directed off your roof. Ponding water can exacerbate problems for all roofing systems.

Moisture found in ponding areas has caused decay of organic felts built up roofs algae growth light colored roofs granule loss modified bitumen roofs and premature curing and surface cracking non vulcanized thermoplastic membranes. Often i see where these posts are literally nailed through the epdm to attach them to the roof. He further suggests that they could ballast the roof if i pay for the stones so that the ponding would not be seen. This moisture has absolutely no affect on epdm membrane.