Flat roofing
Garages, extensions, dormers, balconies and commercial roofs across Worthing and West Sussex. We survey the roof first, then specify the system that suits it — GRP fibreglass, EPDM rubber, single-ply membrane or a RESTEC liquid applied system.
Almost every flat roof we get called out to has failed in the same handful of places: the upstand where the roof meets a wall, the outlet where the water is meant to leave, the trim at the edge, or a lap that was never properly bonded. The big open span in the middle is usually fine.
That matters, because it means the system on the roof is rarely the thing that went wrong. The detailing was. A cheap system detailed properly will outlast an expensive one detailed badly, every time, and it is why we survey a roof before we quote it rather than pricing off a photograph.
It also means a leak is not automatically a new roof. If the deck underneath is sound and the covering has simply given up at the joints, an overlay or a liquid applied system will often solve it for a fraction of a full replacement. If the deck is soft, no coating on earth will fix that, and we will say so.
There is no best flat roof system, only the right one for the deck, the fall, the detailing and how the roof gets used. This is roughly how we decide.
Garages, dormers, balconies, bay tops and small to mid-size extensions
Cures into one seamless sheet with no joints anywhere, including up the upstands. Hard and walkable, so it suits anything that gets stood on. Needs a sound timber deck and dry weather above about 5°C to cure properly, so we don’t rush one in on a bad week.
Larger domestic flat roofs, garden rooms and extensions
Most domestic roofs take a single sheet, so there are no field joints at all. Stays flexible in cold weather and copes well with a deck that moves. Softer underfoot than GRP, so less suited to a roof in regular use as a terrace.
Commercial roofs, large spans and complex layouts
Hot-air welded seams rather than adhesive, light on the structure, and the usual specification for landlords, letting agents and commercial buildings. Handles plant, walkways and awkward penetrations well.
Awkward detailing, and roofs that are sound underneath but leaking at the joints
Cold applied, so no torch and no hot works on your property. Goes seamlessly around outlets, upstands, pipes and plinths where sheet systems have to be cut and joined — which is exactly where sheet systems tend to fail.
Whichever system goes on, the sequence is the same, and most of the work happens before any waterproofing is opened.
The old covering comes off and we get eyes on the timber. Soft, delaminated or rotten decking is replaced, not coated over — this is the single most common corner cut on a cheap flat roof, and it is the reason the new one fails in three years.
Water has to leave the roof. Where a roof ponds because it was laid flat or has settled, we build in falls with firrings or a tapered layer so it drains to the outlet instead of sitting there. Standing water is what finds every weakness a roof has.
Trims bonded and reinforced rather than just screwed down, upstands taken to a proper height and dressed in, outlets fitted so the membrane runs into them rather than up to them. This is the part that decides whether the roof lasts.
Full specified build-up, correct primers and adhesives, correct overlaps, correct cure times. Where the system carries a manufacturer warranty, it is installed to the standard that warranty requires — which is the point of being an approved installer.
Site swept and cleared at the end of every day, not just at the end of the job, and your written guarantee issued on completion.
Not all of these mean a new roof. They all mean it is worth getting someone up there before the ceiling gets involved.
We don’t publish prices, because a number without a survey behind it is a guess that later becomes an argument. What we will do is tell you exactly what we are pricing and why, in writing, for free. These are the things that move it.
Free inspections and free written quotations, itemised, with the system we are recommending and the reason for it. No expiry-date tactics.
Get a Free QuoteA few recent Sussex flat roofing jobs, with the town or postcode district they were on.
Most domestic flat roofs — a garage, an extension, a dormer — are done in two to four days including the strip-out. Larger or more detailed roofs take longer, and GRP and liquid systems need dry conditions to cure, so weather can move a date. We give you a realistic window before we start rather than an optimistic one.
Sometimes, and it can save you a lot of money when it is genuinely appropriate. It depends on whether the deck below is dry and sound, how many layers are already up there, and whether the existing falls work. If we can overlay safely we will tell you. If the deck is wet, we won’t, because coating over wet timber just traps the problem and voids any guarantee.
Yes, and we would far rather repair one if a repair is the right answer. Localised splits, failed upstands, blocked or failed outlets and lifted trims are all repairable. We will only recommend a replacement where a repair would be money spent twice, and we will show you why.
A correctly installed one, no. Flat roofs are not actually flat — they are laid to a fall so water runs to an outlet. Nearly every flat roof leak we attend traces back to water not being able to leave: a blocked outlet, a settled deck that now ponds, or a fall that was never built in.
Yes. Single-ply and liquid systems on commercial units, blocks and HMOs for landlords, letting agents and property investors, including phased work where the building has to stay in use.
A written workmanship guarantee of 5 to 10 years depending on the system, plus a leak-free guarantee on new installations. Where the specified system qualifies, manufacturer-backed cover is available too, through the SIG Roofing One Warranty or through RESTEC on liquid applied systems.
Send a couple of photos and a postcode and Dean will come back to you personally, usually the same day. If it’s actively leaking, call instead — we run a 24/7 call-out.
Tell us about the problem and Dean will come back to you personally, usually the same day.
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GRP fibreglass cures into a single seamless membrane across the whole roof, up every upstand and into every outlet. There are no laps, no welds and no seams — so there is nothing for water to get under and nothing for the wind to lift. Dean is a RESTEC Flexitec 2020 approved installer, so the roof gets registered with the manufacturer when it is finished.
Read moreLiquid applied roofing is a cold-applied, fibre-reinforced membrane that cures seamlessly over the whole roof — including every upstand, outlet and pipe. Dean is a RESTEC trained installer, so the system can carry manufacturer-backed cover as well as ours.
Read moreSlipped and broken tiles, failed ridges and verges, leaking valleys, chimneys and full strip-and-re-cover across Worthing and West Sussex. We get up on the roof and find the actual cause before we price anything — and where a repair genuinely solves it, a repair is what we will recommend.
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