Flat roofing questions, answered honestly

These are the questions people actually ask us, on the phone, at the survey and in reviews. Answered the way we'd answer them if we were talking to you in person. If yours isn't here, ring us and ask. If you're mainly wondering what it costs, our flat roof cost guide here is the place to start. We keep this page updated with new and helpful questions.

Before you decide

Is it the roof? Is it us? Is it worth it?

  • Don't assume it's a leak in your flat roof. We'd come and check, inside as well as up top, because a stained ceiling under a flat roof can be condensation in the void caused by missing or failed insulation rather than water coming through. Both need to be remedied. We'll tell you which it is, and we are not going to replace your roof if your roof doesn't need replacing.

  • No, and we won't pretend otherwise. We only do replacement flat roofs, and we only work in rubber, so we'd never turn up and patch a felt or fibreglass roof with rubber; it doesn't work. If what you want is a quick patch repair, we're honestly not the right people to call, and we won't waste your time by coming out to quote for one. We will come out, diagnose your problem and quote you for a solution.

  • We don't do emergency call-outs, but if you're leaking and it's urgent we'll do our best to get you in at the first possible opportunity. We do queue jump urgent cases. Often we'll come out and put a temporary cover over the roof to tide you over until we can get to you properly and fix the problem. Tell us when you ring.

  • Not quite - and the difference matters. Rubber never goes straight onto felt. What modern roofing does allow is the overlay method: your existing felt stays where it is, and we build a whole new deck over the top of it, then cover that in EPDM. Done properly it's a very common, very normal and genuinely excellent method - and building the new deck also lets us correct any problems with the fall of the roof and sort out the gutters at the same time. The condition underneath still matters: it only works if what's under there is robust and not rotting, which is exactly what we check. And it tends to only make sense on a non-habitable roof, because a roof over a lived-in room needs insulation to meet building regulations. So: overlay, yes, quite possibly. Rubber straight on top of your felt, absolutely not.

  • Very possibly, and yes it's really common on older garages. Our team is trained in asbestos awareness, so we know how to identify it. We don't remove it ourselves: we bring in a professional, licensed removal firm to take it away safely, and if we know about it in advance it's simply factored and itemised into your quote. Occasionally asbestos turns up mid-job in a part of the roof nobody could see - if that happens we stop and talk to you first, because professional removal is an additional cost, and we'd never just crack on and invoice you for it. You want to know it’s being taken care of and disposed properly and compliantly.

  • Our quote itemises absolutely everything. Every element of the job, listed, with the VAT shown clearly. So the simplest check is to use our quote as the benchmark: go down the list and see whether the others include the same things. If a price is much cheaper, the difference is usually hiding in what isn't written down. For what it's worth: we're registered with the Competent Roofer scheme, members of the NFRC, and trained in the installation of rubber flat roofs. We employ and train all of our own guys, and we install rubber flat roofs all day long, day in and day out - it's all we do. We're specialists. We're probably never going to be the cheapest quote you get, and we know that. We’ve been doing this for over 10 years.

  • No. Only a roofer does our surveys, because only a roofer can really know what your roof needs - no two roofs are the same. It'll be the managing director or a team leader: an experienced roofer, not a salesman with a tape measure. They often won't need to come inside, and you don't need to be home as long as we can get to the roof. If you are in, we'll knock, say hello, and tell you what we've found. There's no sitting in your kitchen for two hours with brochures, and nothing to "sell" you. You get a detailed, fully itemised quote by email, with photos of your actual roof, and where it's useful, options (say, an insulated warm deck vs a standard cold deck) priced side by side, so you can decide for yourself and accept electronically or come back with questions. We love questions.

Who does the work

Our own employed team, our vans, our name on the door.

About rubber roofing

What EPDM is, why it's all we fit, and what it can and can't do.

  • No. The team on your roof are employed by Endura Flat Roofing. Our guys, our vans, trained by the manufacturer in fitting the membrane. We don't send "whoever's available". The exceptions are scaffolding: that's a specialist trade in its own right, so for anything above first-floor height we bring in people who really know what they're doing. Asbestos; we are trained in awareness and spotting it. Removal and disposal is very specialist and again, we bring in the specialists. Your roof - that’s all us.

  • Yes. We schedule your job in advance, you’ll get a call, so you know the day, and every morning of the job you'll get a text telling you what time we'll arrive. You'll also have a team leader as your point of contact who'll update you at the end of each day, with photos of where we're up to and keep you in the loop on progress.

  • For ground-floor roofs, porches, garages, kitchen extensions etc we can often use our own scaffold towers and equipment. Anything higher or more complicated and we bring in a professional scaffolding company. We arrange it all, you'll know exactly when they're coming, and we arrange the take-down when the job's done.

  • Usually just clear the driveway so we have access, and if we need to get to the roof through your garage, leave it open for us. If there's anything more (shared access with a neighbour, for instance), we'll have covered it all with you and them when we scheduled the job. No surprises.

  • No. As long as we can get to the roof, you can be out - we just need access to a power socket to keep our tool batteries charged, and the garage left open and gates unlocked if that's our way in.

  • We're fully insured for accidents, and if we cause a problem we fix it, though it rarely happens. This is a great question and worth checking with any contractor you have in your home. Your gutters are often being replaced as part of the roofing job anyway. And if we ever need to work on or beside a neighbour's property, we make sure they know and we have their permission first.

  • Monday to Friday, arriving just after 8am. We finish with the light; a bit later in summer, a bit earlier in winter and if a roof needs finishing at the end of a week, we'll sometimes work on the Saturday rather than leave it.

  • EPDM is a synthetic rubber: ethylene propylene diene monomer - supplied as a single-ply membrane that's dressed over the roof in one piece (wherever possible). The manufacturer's own durability studies put its life expectancy at more than 50 years even in full sunlight, and it's been proven on roofs since the 1980s, with over 1.5 billion square metres installed worldwide. It shrugs off UV, ozone and frost, and stays flexible down to −45°C, which is why it doesn't crack the way felt does. Our team is trained by the membrane manufacturer in fitting it.

  • The sun destroys felt. UV delaminates it, then when cold weather comes the expanded felt cracks. Rubber expands and contracts with the weather instead of fighting it. Felt also means hot works, flames and bitumen on your property; EPDM needs none of that - no flames, no boilers of tar and mops, no smell. None of that mess.

  • We have done in the past. We trained the team in it and we stopped working with it. It wasn't as reliable: it doesn't last as long as rubber, it's messy, it takes longer, and we didn't trust it the way we do trust EPDM. We'd rather do one system properly than three systems averagely. We only work with EPDM rubber - we are experts in it.

  • Honestly? If you had an enormous factory roof, the cost would be prohibitive and there are cheaper commercial systems. For houses, garages, extensions, bays, porches and dormers rubber is simply the best system there is, which is why most roofing companies have moved towards it. We went further: it's all we do.

  • Flat black rubber, in one piece wherever possible, with no joins, and flashed into the walls properly and secured with the right trims - which can transform the whole look. We won't pretend it looks like anything other than black rubber, because that's what it is: neat, flat and tidy. Have a look at our recent jobs and judge for yourself.

  • Yes, if your roof structure is safe to walk on, the rubber is too. Lean a ladder on it, let the window cleaner up, get to other parts of the roof over it. There's no real maintenance either: you can wash it with normal cleaning products if it's in your sightline, but hardly anyone ever does.

  • Yes. Skylights, lanterns and all types of roof lights can go in or be replaced as part of the job. This is structural work if it’s a new fitting so tell us what you want when we survey and it all goes in the itemised quote. If at all possible speak to us before you purchase any skylights or lanterns (if you are purchasing them and not us) - they are not all compatible with all roofs - some are better suited to this type of work and we can help you find the right one.

  • It's all part of upgrading the roof as one system, it's itemised in your quote, and it's usually what makes the finished job look as sharp as it performs from the kerbside.

  • It depends on the structure underneath, and whether it was designed to take the weight of becoming a usable deck. Usually it can't without some modifications if that’s not what was designed into the building, so it's less common than people hope. What we do regularly do is balconies and upper floor outside decks: we don't build the balcony, but we membrane it in rubber and finish it with walkable surfaces like rubber tiles or artificial grass, with the falls set so water still runs away to the gutter - a proper, functional balcony. Under a balcony is a flat roof, right?

  • Yes, but it's not as simple as fitting the roof and plonking panels on top. The thing you must avoid is puncturing your brand-new rubber to fix the panels down, so the mounting has to be designed to keep penetrations to an absolute minimum. It just needs careful planning as part of the job, not as an afterthought.

  • Honest answer: it might, partially. There's a lot in that question. Rooms like kitchen extensions usually have a lot of glass, and glass is where the heat escapes in winter and floods in come July; the direction the room faces and the heating in it matter too. A roof over a lived-in room should already be an insulated warm deck, though you'd be surprised how often we find it isn't. So it's worth the conversation, and we'll tell you whether the roof is actually your problem, part of the problem, or whether you'd be spending money in the wrong place. One thing we're seeing more and more: people removing large expensive roof lanterns they had installed only a few years ago, because the summer-to-winter temperature swings have become a real problem. We can do that too; remove the lantern and replace it with a full insulated roof deck. Talk to us about the problems you’re having.

  • Yes, absolutely, it's very common, and everyday work for us. We create a clean, proper line between the two roofs: their roof doesn't undermine yours, and your new roof doesn't depend on theirs. Clean lines.

Money, timing, process and afterwards.

No deposit, no surprises, and what happens if you ever need us again.

  • No deposit. We do the work first: you're invoiced straight after completion for immediate payment by bank transfer, with a proper itemised invoice. No cash-in-hand, no money up front. We only get paid when your roof is done - which tells you everything about how confident we are that you'll be happy with it.

  • Yes, and your quote shows the VAT clearly as its own line.

  • Usually three to six weeks, depending on the time of year. For urgent cases we can often schedule quicker. We will tell you honestly when we survey your roof.

  • Yes. We work all year round, with specific products designed to be applied in all weathers. The only thing we won't do is take your roof off while it's pouring with rain, so there are a handful of rain days a year when we stand down. Otherwise, our guys are on roofs every working day of the year.

  • It all goes with us. We hold a waste carrier licence and take away all our rubbish and everything we strip off, disposing of it properly through a waste disposal company - you won't be left with a pile to take to the tip. Occasionally we order a skip to site, if it’s a big project - we will let you know all of that before hand; we arrange delivery and removal. Something most people don't know: legally, your waste is your responsibility. Under the householder duty of care, it's on you to make sure whoever takes your waste away is authorised to and if a contractor fly-tips your old roof and it's traced back, it's the householder who can be fined. You’re not required to have any type of licence as a domestic home owner - it’s just good to know you can ask for your contractor’s waste carrier licence number. Then you know they are handling waste responsibly. (You can check it on the Environment Agency's public register).

  • You ring us. We come out and look and we'll tell you honestly what's wrong, because sometimes it's not the roof at all (a blocked gutter is a classic). If it's our work, we put it right. We've been doing this since 2015, under the same name, from the same base — we're not hard to find.

  • Yes - anyone who needs a flat roof. Landlords and letting agents regularly; we've also done smaller commercial jobs like shops and offices, though homes are most of our work.

  • Our patch runs from Gateshead and County Durham up through Newcastle and Tyneside into Northumberland. For the right-sized job we'll go further - we've worked as far as Darlington and Stockton. Ring us and talk to us about what you need.

Still got a question?

Ring us and ask. You’ll get a roofer, not a call centre. Or request a free survey and we’ll answer your question standing on your roof.

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