Get another estimate - a detailed one.

And then get a third.

Three bids usually gives you a good picture about how much something actually costs. There are always bids that are way too much or way too little and you'd usually want to avoid those. This may or may not be the case, but you won't know until you get more bids.

Thank you very much for your comments. There is NO way we can afford this, but we have quite a few places where the roof is squishy, i.e. meaning wet. It has a metal railing with upright posts all around the flat roof and many places where the roof is squishy where the posts are adhered to the rubber roof. The roof is about 25 years old. I can only think of patching all these. I mean if we dont' have the money ($3lK!!!) what can we do? Can a handy man repair those places? It can't be THAT hard, can it? I'm desperate. The plaster on my ceiling in my office has started to fall down where there is a big leak in the rubber roof. Bad news!!!!!

If it is "squishy", the roof decking is probably rotted which mean the entire roof will definitely need to come off as well as the roof decking. No choice, no handyman repair special, I am afraid to say.....

If it's squishy, you are WELL past a hack patch job holding you over. To rebuild the structure with more slope and a better waterproofing system than what has leaked on you will easily cost 31K. Moisture damage is a βitch, and if not addressed soon, even more structural damage can occur, making it even more expensive, or rendering it a teardown.

Get another estimate (preferably two), but given what you're saying and if the first quote includes fixing the damaged roof deck it doesn't necessarily sound far off. There could be even more rot damage to repair depending on how long it's been leaking. You need to be prepared for some unpleasant surprises when they open it up. Sorry.

Do yourself a favor and get rid of the posts and any other penetration that's not absolutely necessary. Each one is both expensive to detail and a golden opportunity for a leak.

Unfortunately, fixing leaking roofs really isn't optional if you want your house to continue to stand.

Thank you very much for your comments. BUT....Very sad to read all this. Where do I come up with $3lK But I will get a couple more estimates. Its mostly over our garage which we don't even use for cars, and a part which is over our "office" which we don't use either. It cost us $8K to put new shingles on our rather large farm house including new plywood and tearing off the old. This $31K is just for over our garage. So much difference in price..............

I'm sure a big part of it is repairing the damage and the risk of the callback. So what if you did the demo and then hired a crew to frame something more conventional with more slope that could use conventional asphalt shingles? A small Shingle roof would be much less expensive. Adding more slope to use different materials would be substantially cheaper. A lot would depend on what you found after the demo. But no way would I pay that for square footage that I didn't use. I'd tear it down completely first.

You may get a break in the price if you share the risk. The guy at 31K is assuming the worst; anything less than the worst is profit. See if you can get a square footage contract, so much for tear off, so much for sheathing and framing replacement, etc.

get more bids. quit fixating on 31K.
get bids with details to explain what is
happening, what needs to be fixed &
what the fix entails.

then you'll have info to make a choice.

even if you don't use the areas under the spongy
parts of the roof, water damage spreads.
the longer you wait, the more damage will
occur.

elimination of penetrations is a good idea IMO.

post some pics, get some bids & share the info
here.

best of luck.

And, about 31K. You might have to look at a loan. This isn't something you want to let go and if you do and something bad happens, your homeowner's insurance can be cancelled as well. You just can't ignore this.

Flat roofs, what were they thinking when they thought these are a great idea. You need more estimates, and detailed for labour and materials. Not one that says 20K for materials and 11K for labour. I want a scope of work, material breakdown and a time line. If you don't get that say thank you and get another. You say there is a railing, why? Is it being used as a deck or patio? The reason I ask is table and chair legs may damage a membrane roofing system. Membranes for flat roofs can be costly. Get someone in to look that specializes in flat roofs, not a general shingle roofing contractor, someone with the equipment and experience.

You put "sleepers" over membrane to prevent damage from table and chair legs.

If it is squishy then they will need to replace the sheathing. Even so, probably not a 31k job IMO. As everyone has said, get another estimate. Heck for all you know they dont even do flat roofs and threw out that quote to make you go away. You say they are a reputible company but do you know if they do flat roofs often? Flat roofs are quite a bit more involved than your standard shingled roof.

I agree 100% to every word of advice given above and I rarly do that here on this forum. With that said and understanding that the only "correct repair"will involve extensive structural repairs resulting from water intrusion,I will offer possible stop gap until your head clears. "IF" you can find the leaks,and that is ten times as difficult as on conventional shingles,you can buy a product at rv supply counter,ebay and amazon called Etherbond that will seal them. Follow the cleaning instructions to the letter and Do Not Touch The Roof With Anything Not Specifficaly Approved For The Membrane. Petroleum based products like tar roof patch will eat a hole smooth through in short order. If and when you get the drips stopped,it's manditory you do as others have advised asap. Stopping the leaks does not arrest farthur rusting and rotting of structrual material which will result in total collapse of roof. What can and will happen is a slight sag results in ponding which emediatly causes additional sag and ponding then collapse. It's a bitter pill but there is no way around it.

our locals codes require a railing if we have a patio door out to the roof, which we have. Maybe I can have someone make it into a sunroom or enclosed screen house, or greenhouse instead. i know I would still have to pull off the old rubber and rotten underlayment, but at least won't have a rubber roof to content with in the future, and leaks and holes in it. will try to send pictures if this works.

p.s. we had another leak so my husband used that stuff that says it fixes holes in gutters, etc. For a temporary fix. It does work for a time,.........

"our locals codes require a railing if we have a patio door out to the roof, which we have."

As it should but it's foolish to use a membrane roof as a patio. A few buildings I have managed required workmen going on roof to be monitored while. Most membrane installs have desinated points of ingress and include walk pads to hvac equipment if present. It is a good system but requires a special mind-set to realize benifits. I paid to have routine inspections done on flat roofs as a money saving stratagy.

Now, the other shoe drops, and we have a complete picture of why it's a 31K quote. The entire structure needs to be rebuilt, along with those pesky prone to leak penetrations. And to code. And able to withstand foot traffic. 31K is probably low for that. I was recently involved in a flat roof deck over living space new construction, and that option, in a low cost of labor market, was 60K.

I would tear off the rubber roofing and fix the underlayment and put whatever is needed on the "floor" for a big sun/screen porch or greenhouse since its on the south side of the house. I'm trying to get a quote on that. Even if its a screened in porch but at least it will have a pitched roof after that instead of a flat roof and can have shingles instead of this horrible problem-causing rubber flat roof. I have always wanted a porch and/or greenhouse. Its about 1300 sq ft of area I guess.

In the meantime I did get a quote of about $8800 to fix/patch the bad areas, but they will not give any guarantee. I think I mentioned previously that a handyman and I did some patching about 4-5 years ago, and those patches are still holding.

THANK YOU all for your very helpful comments!

I don't see how it's going to be cheaper to put on a greenhouse / porch. The second story addition will have to have it's roof tied into your existing roof. Also it will have to be enclosed - otherwise you can get rain on the porch floor / roof. Also are the footings up to holding up two stories?

Yea your looking at a new level up their as a sunroom? That's completely new structure, new roof, new siding, new floor, new insulation, new electrical. And im missing stuff. Gonna be cheaper to just fix the roof. If you are going to restructure the roof to be a normal sloped roof that will be a bit more expensive too. I am thinking the current roof was not designed to be a deck. Decks needs to be able to hold more weight (for when people hold parties), so that would probably need a restructure, new roof, and then decking above that, which may be what the high quote was for and considering all of that, it may be more reasonable.

Thanks all for your very helpful comments. I'm looking at different alternatives and talking to different contractors. As I'm driving around looking at flat roofs, I seem hundreds of industrial buildings as well as many schools with them. They all have rubber roofs? Some of those buildings are enormous. There must be different alternatives to rubber? Just wondering.

"There must be different alternatives to rubber? Just wondering."

Yup,but all of them weigh several times what rubber does. The difference in cost for trusses and crane to set them on commercial free span buildings more than offset the difference in cost of rubber. That's why you should be talking to engineers instead of strangers on the net about building a patio and different roof atop your house. What do the"different contractors"you been talking to say about it?

what happened...?

we have a flat roof and our roofer put metal on it when it leaked. Rubber was not an option because of the slope limitation. Ask about a metal product for yours steelskies (your name should have you already pondering this idea - lol!!). The metal roof on our place came with a lifetime guarantee and it's easy to clean, maintain.

stolenidentity:

What is the "slope limitation" of rubber roofing, please?

And how do you properly flash a metal roof on a flat surface?

Well pro and workman - I'm not a roofer but was just suggesting that steelskies look at other options. The OP was asking about alternatives to rubber. When the shingles on our low pitch or low slope roof failed, I learned that metal was a good alternative because the shingles were not recommended (the whole sub roof needed replaced as well as the shingles). The roof dude called our situation "low-slope" and measured something called pitch etc... and said the options would be tar and gravel, torch down, and standing seam metal. We chose the standing seam for the long-lasting, and virtually maintenance free advantages. I don't know about the flashing...the roof is seamless and when it rains it all just runs right on down into the gutter as it should. And one more thing, it weighs a lot less than rubber!

stolen identity, do you have a picture. you can send to my email steelskies@yahoo.com We are still talking to roofers, and its strange that a number of them dont even bother calling me back. Even ones listed on Angies List. So far, I've gotten a $3lK estimate, a $7500 estimate,(both would tear off everything replace the fiberboard and put on new rubber) and another $l200 to patch our "leak" area only, and the last guy yesterday said to only patch the "leak" " but didn't get a quote from him yet. Very interesting....

I see houses with flat roofs on their upper porches and some of them have patio furniture on their roof. Is a certain extra step needed for that?

Sorry, lots of questions yet............

andrelaplume2,
Did you see the post right above yours? There isn't an end result yet.

steelskies, you can do a pic search to see the standing seam on low slope roofs. I don't know if that would work now that I realize you are using yours for a porch or deck. What exactly is the "rubber" you are talking about? I do know about a PVC product because we have that on an upper deck (flat roof) (called IB Roof), and it is also easy to maintain. None of these options are inexpensive. Your roofing bidders should give you the information on "certain extra steps". Good luck...

didn't see that when I posted...

Stolenidentity, we are not using the flat rubber roof at all. We might use it as a patio IF it ever gets fixed right. Our patio door to the roof is crap and falling apart, so that's another reason we don't use the flat roof. Alot to get fixed......... I would love to put a small screen porch or greenhouse on a small part of the roof, if possible. I know the whole roof needs to be ripped off and new fiberboard put down, or whatever. Thinking that's a good time to put a small porch there or greenhouse since its on the south side of the house. Still looking at options. Its unbelievable that a lot of the roofing companies don't even return my call. I leave message that we either need it patched or replaced, and would like to get an estimate. We've gotten ONE estimate and 2 ballpark estimate, with probably 6-7 calls to different roofers.

I think the flat roof has the smallest amount of pitch in the middle. Whoever originally put it on should have put more pitch on it, that's for sure. also, because the highest pitch is in the middle, some of the water flows toward our patio door ,which isn't good.

Sorry, all, but more questions:

We had another professional roofing contractor out yesterday and he said they would use OSB, not fiberboard. Our very first quote, the $3lK one!!! would use fiberboard. What is the difference? What is customary to use for a new rubber roof. We are in wisconsin; don't know if that makes a difference in insulating value or whatever.

Oriented Strand Board is a much more appropriate underlayment than "fiberboard" which probably means Medium Density Fiberboard. The difference? OSB is large chunks of trees/bushes mushed together, MDF is sawdust mushed together. Mushed sawdust makes and keeps a great edge profile, but OSB is stronger spanning roof rafters.

I don't think MDF even has span ratings, so I do not even know what the roof meant by "fiberboard".