Fibreglass – why we DO NOT recommend this roofing system
Fibreglass has been around for many years but in recent years it has been adapted to use as a flat roofing system, with mixed results. If you, like many others were unlucky enough to invest in a fibreglass flat roof you will no doubt be aware of the following sales patter:
“It will add value to your house”
“It is algae resistant”
“One piece – no joins”
“Guaranteed for a lifetime”
“Will outlast a traditional bituminous roofing system, EPDM or liquid roofing system”
These claims by often unqualified sales advisors are simply not true, as many customers have found when their fibreglass roofing systems have failed only a few years after installation.
Fibreglass is directly adhered to your roof deck, this means that it does not allow any room for thermal movement. This can at best lead to the roof becoming brittle and cracking and at worst lead to lintels being pushed off doors, cracks in your ceiling and a loud thermal knocking (the noise that your guttering might make when the sun catches it – only amplified across the size of your roof!).
Fibreglass roofing systems also trap moisture in the roof deck, which leads to the very support for the fibreglass itself rotting out from underneath. This means that the whole roof, including the roofing system and the roof deck will need to be replaced – which can be costly, disruptive, require significant internal decoration and is simply unnecessary.
R G Leverett Ltd is keen to ensure that our customers, both domestic and commercial have the choice of the most up to date roofing installation systems to suit their individual needs. As such, we are always seeking reliable, high quality roofing systems to add to our portfolio. We offer a choice of high performance bitumen reinforced roofing systems, EPDM roofing systems and liquid roofing systems. We thoroughly researched the market before adding the EPDM and liquid roofing systems to our portfolio to ensure that we were putting our name to reliable, proven and high quality roofing systems that would enable us to continue to provide our customers with the highest quality service.
Here at R G Leverett Ltd, we chose not to add fibreglass to our portfolio, simply because research has proven that it is not as good as other roofing systems, such as bitumen reinforced, EPDM or liquid roofing systems. We didn’t want to risk our good reputation by endorsing what we considered to be a substandard product. Replacing your roof with a high quality roofing system is important, therefore, why spend more on a product which simply does not live up to its claims.
