Was it a peel and stick product or did he glue it down with an adhesive? If it was peel and stick it's very odd. If he glued it he probably should have used the other side, and that's his fault, so he should at least be willing to spray paint that part to match. IMO.

The roofer is correct. He installed the roofing correctly.

Simple solution if you just want to cover the printing. Have him go over the roof with a sealer or rubber roof coating.

"He says he's never had anyone mention them before..huh?"

That's probably true since it's on their roof rather than their deck. The material can be painted with "EPDM Coating"available at rv dealers. It come's in white,black,gray and tan. Now I have a question. Why did you use roofing material on a surface that is subjected to foot traffic,animal claws and furniture legs?

I have used this home improvement/roofer for many jobs. Well known and reputable. Additionally in this project he did the garage, gazebo, and the roof on the garage and home I own next door. All fine. I told him the purpose. Not only is this the wrong material, it was 30% over estimate. It's ugly, inappropriate, installed at a slant with numbers showing. So you are confirming this was the wrong material. I agree.

Saying that is the wrong material is an understatement. The manufacture's name/product name is included in the print,call them. While you are discussing it with mfgrs rep,ask if your installer is an approved installer for their product and if the 20 year warranty will be valid in case garage roof fail's. Every EPDM roof I've claimed warranty on had been registered with manufacture at time of installation.

He used proper material on the rest of the project. Quality shingles. Switched to rubber on my flat, rooftop deck off the master. Yuck.

Rooftop decks are just that, decks installed over the roofing. You need to hire a carpenter to build you a deck on top of that roof.

Their website should also give some basic info on usage of the product, i.e. whether it is rated for foot traffic. I learned a lot from manuf. websites and product sheets when I was looking at some industrial paint I got at the Habitat Restore.

Thanks, everyone. I asked for remedies or solutions and he offered none. Said the "deck" was a roof. That it was to be used for emergency only. Although he has contracted to replace the nice glass door next to the floor to ceiling windows that lead to this deck. I've looked up paints and roof coverings. I'm on the hook 2k for a 12x12 rubber roof on my roof/deck, and now I am on my own to make it useable. Clearance from door, added weight, weather.... Ridiculous. Live and Learn

So it sounds like you guys didn't really discuss what the project was. He assumed it was a roof, you assumed it was a deck.

What was there before your roofer came along and added the rubber?

Pictures would help.

Is there railing around the 'deck'?

Yeah, thats not a walkable surface roof covering in my opinion.

But did your roofer just replace what was already there? If you didn't give him additional info and just said "give me a quote to repair/replace the rubber roofing", then that's what he did.

It was NOT rubber before.

Then what was it?

Previously was some kind of metal with a covering. It was NOT leaking. I told him I wanted it replaced since it was at the end of it's life cycle. Wanted to walk on it. Replacing the rail to code and replacing the glass door. How can anyone argue this was for emergency only? With a straight face.

Is that railing to code? It only looks like it two feet high?

Or has he not done that part of the project yet?

replacing the rail to code. He said he does not do that kind of work. It will be done later

So you just hired him to do some of the work on this project? Maybe he assumed you would be hiring someone else to build the deck on top of this new roof. The same person who is going to be doing the railings perhaps.

he considers this a finished product. For emergency evacuation. Never had any complaints. The numbers are fine. Sees them all the time. Just throw a rug over it and be careful if you put a chair down. Like I said, it's now on me to figure out what to do with this ugly, non functioning product and make this useable space as it was designed in 1930. It's been a walkout deck for nearly 100 years. Now that that photo is up, constructive ideas on what product/steps to use are appreciated.

I was just trying to figure out what he might have been thinking given the limited information that was available. I thought that's what you wanted. To try to figure out why it wasn't built the way you envisioned it in your mind and who was 'at fault'.

If you are looking on ideas moving forward, then it seems like the next step is to build a wooden deck on top of it. Maybe whoever you are getting to do the railings will also do that.

In fact, you might as well get them to do the door as well instead of this roofer doing it since you aren't happy with him. The height of the bottom of the door will be affected by the wooden deck, so if you have the same contractor do both then there won't be any pointing fingers if they don't match up.

Do you have a plan for the railing? Are you just extending the pillars up and using a similar rail to what you have now?

Here's a quick photoshop of what that would look like:

Typically a roof deck would have angle cut sleepers on the roof with deck boards.

May be that there was some confusion because of terms.

A roof structure is commonly called a 'deck'.

Deck/sheathing: The surface, usually plywood or oriented strand board (OSB), to which roofing materials are applied.

What you needed was a new roof and a deck over the new roof. That kind of 'deck' isn't something that a roofer would commonly build. And, I'm thinking that you didn't understand that you needed two things--a new roof and a separate deck. I'm not aware of any purely roofing product that does that kind of dual duty...which isn't to say that it doesn't exist, just that I don't know of it.

Here's a link to a Matt Risinger video about one the systems used for decking over a flat roof:

Deck Over a Flat Roof

I would have thought a good contractor would discuss all that with the client. The one I have worked with (OK not a lot of experience I grant you) would have asked what i was planning to use for a deck on top of what he was putting down. Those kinds of conversations are important. If either party doesn't think they need to know, they probably do. Too many opportunities to have different visions of what's going to happen.

• At this point,"constructive ideas on what product/steps to use" is probably going to be "the least worst steps to take". You might not find much satisfaction in this but your $2K mistake pale's in comparison to many who come here looking for answers. The best solution may very well require tearing it off and starting from scratch but it's worth farther discussion before deciding. It will help us to know exactly what kind of metal was there before,how long it was there,how well it served as outdoor living space,what made you believe it was reaching end of it's life and most important,what type decking is beneath this rubber. I realize we are asking a lot of questions and haven't answered yours yet but that's to avoid turning this into a larger problem than it is already.