Flat Roofing & New Ceiling Installation In Cornwall
We were recently commissioned to carry out a flat roof replacement and new ceiling installation at a residential property in Cornwall.
The existing flat roof covering had come to the end of its serviceable life and needed replacing with a modern, high-performance solution.
We installed a new single ply membrane flat roof system and, as part of the same project, fitted a new plastered ceiling to the room below, transforming what had become a problem area of the property into a clean, weathertight and well-finished space.
The Flat Roof: Single Ply Membrane
The roofing system we specified and installed for this project is a single ply membrane, one of the most widely used and highly regarded flat roofing solutions available in the UK today.
Single ply membranes have become the dominant choice for flat roof replacement and new build flat roofing across the country over the last two decades, and for good reason.
They offer an outstanding combination of performance, longevity and value that older flat roofing systems cannot match.
What Is A Single Ply Membrane?
A single ply membrane is a flexible, factory-manufactured roofing sheet produced from a synthetic polymer material.
The most commonly used types in the UK are TPO (thermoplastic polyolefin), PVC (polyvinyl chloride) and EPDM (ethylene propylene diene monomer), each offering slightly different performance characteristics to suit different project requirements.
All three share the fundamental advantage of being produced as a continuous, flexible sheet that can be laid across the full roof deck in large sections, dramatically reducing the number of joints in the finished system and so reducing the potential for water ingress.
How Is It Installed?
Single ply membranes are typically mechanically fixed or fully adhered to the roof deck below, with all joints and seams heat-welded together to create a continuous, watertight surface.
The heat-welded seams are one of the key performance advantages of single ply systems over older alternatives such as felt, where seams were often the weakest point in the roof covering.
A correctly installed single ply membrane produces a homogeneous surface where the weld is as strong as the membrane itself, so that the roof performs as a single continuous waterproof layer rather than a collection of overlapping sections.
Features & Benefits
Single ply membrane roofing offers a number of significant advantages over traditional flat roofing materials such as felt or asphalt. The material is highly resistant to UV degradation, which is one of the primary causes of deterioration in older flat roofing systems.
It is also extremely flexible, meaning it can accommodate the natural movement and expansion and contraction of the roof deck throughout the seasons without cracking or splitting.
This flexibility is particularly valuable in Cornwall, where temperature variation and exposure to coastal weather can place considerable demands on a roof covering throughout the year.
Single ply membranes are also lightweight, placing minimal additional load on the roof structure below, and they are available in a range of colours including light grey tones that reflect solar radiation and help reduce heat gain within the building beneath.
A correctly installed single ply roof can be expected to perform reliably for 25 years or more, making it a genuinely long-term investment for any homeowner.
The New Ceiling
Alongside the flat roof replacement, we also installed and plastered a new ceiling to the room beneath. The finished ceiling has been brought to a smooth plaster finish throughout, with Freefoam edge trim visible around the perimeter where the ceiling meets the glazed wall sections.
The room itself is a generously sized space with full-width glazing on two elevations overlooking the garden, and the clean, freshly plastered ceiling completes the interior finish neatly ahead of decoration.