Flat Roof Drainage & Ponding Repair in Pittsburgh, PA
If water is still on your flat roof two days after it rains, the roof is wearing out faster than it should. Every inch of standing water weighs about 5.2 pounds per square foot, it finds every weak seam, and in a Pittsburgh winter it freezes into the flashings. The cheapest fix comes first: clearing drains, strainers, scuppers and gutters, and making sure downspouts actually carry water away. Next come the hardware fixes: a cracked drain bowl, a scupper too small for the roof, a missing overflow. And when the problem is the shape of the roof, the fix is slope: tapered insulation, crickets between drains, or re-framed joists, usually done when the roof is replaced.
What's included
- Drains, strainers, scuppers and gutters cleared
- Downspouts checked and reconnected
- Cracked drain bowls and loose clamping rings repaired
- Scuppers enlarged or added
- Overflow scuppers where water has nowhere to go
- Tapered insulation and crickets
- Low spots re-framed on houses
- Water-test after the fix
- Fall clean-out visits
Sound like your roof?
- Water still on the roof 48 hours after rain
- Stains or rings where water dries
- The rear gutter overflows in heavy rain
- Ice on the roof all winter
- A leak right below an internal drain
Drainage & Ponding Repair — FAQs
The usual rule is 48 hours. Longer than that is ponding. See ponding water on a flat roof.
Sometimes: clearing or adding drainage can solve it. If the roof is shaped wrong, the real fix is slope, which is easiest during replacement.
A small sloped section, usually between drains or behind a chimney, that splits water and sends it toward the outlet.
The drain bowl or the clamping ring that holds the roof into it has cracked or loosened, so water gets under the membrane at the drain.