Flat Roof Repair in Pittsburgh, PA
Pittsburgh has more flat roofs on houses than most cities. Row houses in Lawrenceville, Bloomfield, Polish Hill, the South Side and the Northside often have a flat or barely sloped roof hidden behind the front parapet, draining to a gutter or scupper at the back. Across the rest of the city and the suburbs, flat roofs sit over porches, sunrooms, back kitchens, garages and additions. Those small roofs leak more than their share. They meet brick walls at long runs of flashing, they share a party wall with the neighbor's roof, and many were covered in roll roofing or tar decades ago. We find where the water is getting in, repair it with the same material the roof is made of, and tell you plainly when a section is past patching.
What's included
- Leak tracing on the roof, not a patch over the ceiling stain
- EPDM rubber seam, flashing and puncture repair
- Modified bitumen, roll roofing and TPO repair
- Parapet, coping and brick-wall flashing repair
- Party-wall seams where two row-house roofs meet
- Rear gutter, scupper and downspout repair
- Skylight, hatch and chimney flashing on flat sections
- Low spots corrected so water drains off
- Photos of what failed and what was fixed
Sound like your roof?
- A ceiling stain on the top floor of a row house after rain
- Water coming in under a porch or back-addition roof
- Black tar smeared over the same spot more than once
- Rubber pulling away from the parapet or the brick wall
- Water standing on the roof for days after a storm
Leaking right now? Protect the inside first
Move belongings away from the drip, shut off power to any wet light fixture, and stay off the roof in a storm or on ice. Then request service: an active leak can usually be dried in until the permanent repair.
Flat Roof Repair — FAQs
Most residential flat roof repairs, such as a seam, a wall or parapet flashing, or a puncture, run about $300–$1,800. Rebuilding a long run of flashing, or cutting out a soft section of decking, costs more. You get a written price before work starts. More in the cost guide.
Usually at one of three places: the flashing along the party wall where your roof meets the neighbor's, the flashing behind the front parapet, or the rear gutter or scupper backing up. Water can travel a long way across the deck before it drips. See Pittsburgh row-house roofs.
Roof cement can buy time in an emergency, but it is not a repair. It dries, cracks and pulls away within a season or two, and layers of it make the real repair harder. A proper patch uses the same material as the roof, bonded or welded to clean membrane. See how flat roof leaks are found and fixed.
Many repairs, yes. Some adhesives, primers and sealants need a dry surface and a minimum temperature, so in a cold or wet spell we may make a temporary repair to stop the water and come back for the permanent one. See flat roofs in a Pittsburgh winter.
Usually, yes. We repair your roof up to the party wall and tie the new work into the neighbor's roof as well as their material allows. If their side is the source of the leak, we show you photos so the two of you can sort it out.