After many months of battling our old ballast roof we finally have a bright and shiny new Modified Bitumen roof. The above photo shows our dining room on many occasions during the past few months. The chairs look like they are doing a line dance away from the deluge. A ballast roof is a rubber membrane that is put over the flat roof then sealed and held in place by tons of small river rock. The problem with our previous roof was that over time the sun compromised the rubber, bad repairs were made and the roof failed-big time and the leaks begin. Finding a leak on a rubber roof is problematic as the roof may have a hole many yards away from the actual point the water comes into the house. We lived 17 years with a ballast roof on our last flat roofed house-we know "leak searching".
The Calvary Arrives!
Look at the size of this truck! 5-6 workmen shoved for 2 days removing old roof and tons of rocks. The noise was unbelievable and the house shook! They loaded all of that into this handy truck.
The modified-bitumen system we had put on is a commercial application. Because our home has 2 center courtyards, one about 450 sq. feet and the other about 200 sq. feet, the application was similar to putting saran wrap and peanut butter on a donut. The new roof has asphalt build up which allowed the roofer to easily fit it around the courtyard opening.
The finish on the roof is a shiny, shiny silver, if you are ever flying over Central Illinois and see a giant silver donut, give us a wave.
