Had a bit of a situation last week after that huge rainstorm—our shop's flat roof basically turned into a mini lake, and we ended up with some leaks inside. Not fun, let me tell you. Anyway, spent the weekend trying to sort it out and thought I'd share what I did, maybe it'll help someone else avoid the headache.
First thing was getting up there (carefully!) and checking out the drains. Turns out they were totally clogged with leaves, dirt, and some random plastic bag (seriously, how does that even get up there?). Cleared all that junk out by hand first, then flushed them with a hose to make sure water was flowing freely again.
Next step was checking the slope of the roof itself. Ours is supposed to have a slight incline toward the drains, but over time it seems like it's settled a bit unevenly. Ended up using some tapered insulation boards to create a better slope toward the drainage points. Wasn't exactly cheap or easy, but hopefully worth it in the long run.
Also installed some extra scuppers along the edges of the roof as backup drainage points. Figured if one drain gets blocked again, at least we won't end up with another rooftop swimming pool situation.
Finally, put in some leaf guards over the drains—just simple metal mesh covers—to keep debris from clogging things up again too quickly. Fingers crossed that helps.
Honestly though, I'm no roofing expert—just kinda winged it based on some online research and YouTube videos. If anyone here has dealt with something similar or has better tips for keeping flat roofs draining properly, I'd love to hear about it.
"Ended up using some tapered insulation boards to create a better slope toward the drainage points."
Good call on the tapered insulation—it's often overlooked but can really save you headaches later. Curious though, did you check if the added slope affected your roof's load-bearing capacity at all?
