Question: My wife and I are buying a fixer-upper house. One of the repairs that needs to be made is the roof. The current owners used about the cheapest roofing a person can find – I think it is called flypaper, but it really isn’t shingles. Anyway, I would like to do the roof right, using good quality shingles, and perhaps even underlaying them with marine grade plywood. However, right now my wife and I don’t really have the $ to do it right. We have pretty much maxed ourselves out just getting the home loan. We are definitely doing the right thing, since our payments on a 10 year mortgage will be less than the rent payments we are paying now.
What I was wondering is this: is there any way to put some sort of waterproofing on the roof to get another couple of years out of it before redoing it? That would give us some financial breathing room. I was remembering a year or so ago when I was using some spar urethane, and had a little left over. The top of the porch here where we are renting has the same sort of cheap roofing on it, so I poured the urethane out and spread it out a bit with a paintbrush. It hardened up well, and that section of the roof not only seems a lot stronger, but has been completely waterproofed to the point where water dripping from our air conditioner rolls right off the area.
Anyone have any experience with this sort of thing, or any ideas on how to cheaply waterproof a roof?
Answer: There are flexible roof coatings for sale, that will be suitable for you particular climate. I’ve been using one to patch the leaky bits (caused by the previous roofer) in our roof. The ones sold around here are meant to be used on a whole roof; check with what’s sold in your area. Also check the flashing and any guttering. Water can get under the waterproofing coat and still cause damage.
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