Episode 54 - Sealoflex Seal-a-leak Flat Roof Repair
A few years ago I went down to Ashford in Kent to look at a church roof being sprayed with Sealoflex. There was an ongoing problem with lead theft in the area, and the church, not wanting to use the deterrent of razor wire to deliver them from temptation decided that covering the roof with new plywood and applying a coat of this wonder liquid membrane was the lesser evil. It was sprayed on in a day and was said to be good for ten years after which it would just need a light rub down and another coat.
But, even that was not the first time I had seen it. A couple of years prior to that I had helped to apply it to an extension roof on the South Coast. All this is by way of telling you that this is my third brush with the product. The reason this product hasn't been a mainstream stock item is more to do with marketing and distribution. It is hard to get stocked in many merchants if you are not selling a whole range.
Hence this very same product has now been packaged up as an emergency repair kit and is distributed by Icopal under the name of Seal-A-Leak. I would imagine that part of the idea is to get the product into builders hands and build confidence in it. If it works on a small area then it must work on a larger area. In the two tubs you get a small pot of primer for asphalt and timber and a sheet of the glass fibre membrane which you paint into the first layer. This is a scaled down version of the products used on the church roof. In many ways, the process is similar to GRP but without the restriction of a 2 pack and. unlike GRP, it makes a perfect seal for tired and leaking felt roofs. You can also use it in wet weather.
The membrane can be cut up with scissors to do a smaller area and the remaining liquid is good for roughly a year so if you only have to repair a small tear of hole you can hang onto the rest of the tub. The idea of the kit is very much about the emergency repair and they even say in the instructions that it is temporary.
From the builder's point of view it could not be simpler, Grab a brush or roller and a pair of scissors and you are in business. Naturally, you need to clean the roof and apply the primer where required.
The rain came down on the job I did about half an hour after I had finished and it didn't cause the slightest problem. What is more the customer reported that it seemed to have done the trick.
The particular roof I was called out to was one of those jobs which was a complete cock-up from start to finish. The joist were over-spanned, the plywood deck was a mere 12mm of shuttering ply so it bounced like a trampoline and the fixings were 4inch wire nails, several of which had already worked their way up through the felt in the 2 years it had been down. Add to that the fact that they had used one base layer of torch on and no solar reflective cap sheet or solar reflective paint.
What happens in the long term is still up for debate but for now the customer just wanted to keep the rain out and get through the winter. Seal-A-Leak proved to be the perfect product for such a small repair. It took less than half an hour to complete the job and I was on my way, That is just the kind of job I like.
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Seal-a-Leak™ is a liquid repair kit designed to provide an emergency or temporary waterproofing solution to damaged or punctured flat roof membranes.
Seal-a-Leak™ comprises a single component polyurethane based, moisture curing liquid resin. The resin is supplied in a 1 litre tub. It is packaged with a second tub containing an instruction sheet, a small amount of priming solution and a polyester reinforcement fabric which are used in conjunction with the liquid resin to form a fully adhered, monolithic membrane repair.
Emergency Repair:
Where the flat roof membrane is visibly punctured and water is standing above the damaged area causing it to enter the building at a fast rate, simply pour a sufficient amount of the Seal-a-Leak liquid above the puncture and leave to cure.
The Seal-a-Leak liquid will immediately track into the split or hole to plug the puncture, stopping further water from entering the building.
Any remaining Seal-a-Leak liquid can be kept for future use following replacement of the container lid. coating cures to a form dry, transparent film finish. Depending upon atmospheric conditions, curing time can be 20 minutes (at 20 °C / 50 % RH).
This type of emergency repair should always be followed up with a further complete repair (see below) when weather conditions permit.
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28 авг 2024
