Warehouse roof refurbishment, Liverpool

The challenge

The flat roof over this industrial unit office block had reached the end of its life. The old covering had split and was holding water, earlier patch repairs were no longer holding, and the timber deck beneath had deteriorated. The building sits on a tight, exposed site next to a residential area, so the work called for full scaffold and edge protection and a tidy, well-managed operation throughout.

Our solution

We stripped the existing roof back completely and replaced the timber deck with new plywood, giving a sound, dry base to build on. We then installed a new Flex-R single ply membrane across both roofs, 500 m² in total, mechanically fixed with all seams welded into one continuous skin. The detailing was dressed in neatly around the outlets, upstands and the abutment to the profiled cladding, with edge protection in place from start to finish.

Scope of work

• Full strip of the failed covering across two roofs, 500 m² in total
• Deteriorated timber deck replaced with new plywood
• Flex-R single ply membrane, mechanically fixed, with every seam hot-air welded
• Detailing around the outlets, upstands and the abutment to the profiled cladding
• Full scaffold and edge protection on a tight site next to homes

Why this system

With the old covering and the deteriorated deck gone, the new plywood gave a sound, even base, which suits a mechanically fixed system. The membrane is held down with fixings into the new deck rather than glued, so there is no waiting for adhesive to cure. Flex-R is a single ply membrane, so its seams are hot-air welded into one continuous skin with no glued laps for water to work into, and it stays flexible enough to dress neatly around the outlets, upstands and the junction with the cladding.

The outcome

A clean, watertight single ply roof across both areas, putting an end to the recurring leaks and giving the building a durable, low-maintenance covering. The job was completed safely on a constrained site and handed over in 2022.