Parapet coping and mortar joints
Open coping joints and deteriorated masonry above the roof line let water into the wall assembly. This is the number one source on downtown Edwardsville buildings and it is not fixed from the roof surface alone.
Flat roof repair in Edwardsville, at a glance
STL Roof Repair repairs commercial flat and low-slope roofs in Edwardsville, Illinois — built-up and modified bitumen on downtown brick buildings, single-ply TPO and EPDM on newer Route 157 and Governors' Parkway retail, plus parapets, scuppers and drains. John Beal Roofing has been family-run since 1947 and dispatches Madison County work from 101 W Vandalia St in Edwardsville. Free inspection and written estimate, lifetime workmanship warranty on qualifying work, and a live person on (618) 653-3226 or (314) 429-6000 at any hour.
Edwardsville has two very different kinds of flat roof, and they fail for opposite reasons. Downtown, the brick buildings along North Main and the older commercial blocks carry layered asphalt systems behind masonry parapet walls, some of them older than the businesses inside. Out along Route 157, Governors' Parkway and the newer development near SIUE, it is single-ply membrane over steel deck installed in the last twenty or thirty years. Same town, same weather, completely different diagnosis.
On the downtown buildings the parapet is usually the culprit. Water does not come through the middle of the roof — it comes in over the top of the wall, through failed coping joints and mortar, then runs down the inside face and behind the base flashing. The ceiling gets wet along an exterior wall and everyone looks at the roof field, which is dry and fine.
What Actually Fails
Where Edwardsville Flat Roofs Leak
Through-wall scuppers
Older buildings drain out through the wall. The scupper sleeve and its flashing collar corrode, and the water then runs inside the wall instead of out of it.
Stacked asphalt systems
Decades of recovers. The layers hold water, so a surface patch accomplishes nothing while the deck below keeps deteriorating.
TPO seams on newer retail
On the Route 157 corridor buildings, the failures are welded seams, curb flashings at rooftop units, and fasteners backing out of the steel deck.
After A Metro East Hail Storm
Coatings Sold Over Wet Roofs
Madison County sits in the part of the Metro East that takes hail almost every spring, and every time it does, crews appear offering a sprayed coating as a permanent fix. On a dry, sound roof a coating is a legitimate product. Over saturated insulation it is the worst thing you can do: it seals the moisture into the assembly, the deck rots underneath, and the owner does not find out for three or four years, by which point the structural repair costs multiples of what a proper roof would have.
So we core-cut. A small sample through the assembly shows whether the insulation is dry, and that one test drives the entire recommendation. Hail damage on single-ply also needs documenting properly, because impact can bruise the membrane and fracture the reinforcement inside it without making a visible hole. We photograph and locate it while the storm date is current and our insurance division works the claim with you. Payouts are never guaranteed and deductibles are never waived.
Because our Edwardsville office is in town, we are not driving across the river to look at your building. Call (618) 653-3226, or (314) 429-6000 at any hour of the night, and a live dispatcher will get the water stopped and the failure documented.
Common Questions
Edwardsville Flat Roof Questions
Do you have a local Edwardsville crew or do you come from Missouri?
We have an Edwardsville office at 101 W Vandalia St #131, phone (618) 653-3226, and it dispatches Madison County and Metro East work. John Beal Roofing has been family-run since 1947, so this is not a storm-season operation passing through.
The ceiling is wet along an outside wall. Is that the flat roof?
Often it is the parapet rather than the roof. Water enters through open coping joints or deteriorated masonry above the roof line, runs down inside the wall, and gets behind the base flashing. We inspect the wall and the roof together.
Should I let someone coat my flat roof after a hail storm?
Only after a core sample shows the insulation underneath is dry. A coating over a wet assembly traps the moisture and the deck keeps rotting. We core-cut first and tell you what the roof actually is.
Can you handle a roof on a downtown building with no roof access?
Yes. Older Main Street buildings routinely need interior hatch or ladder access and staging from the alley. We plan that during the free inspection so the crew is not improvising on the day.
Free Edwardsville Flat Roof Inspection
Serving Edwardsville, Glen Carbon, Troy, Collinsville and the Metro East from our Edwardsville office. Tell us what the roof is doing.
Related Pages
Related Edwardsville And Commercial Roofing Pages
Flat Roof Leaking In Edwardsville?
A local crew, a free inspection, and a written price for only the work the roof actually needs.