Using Durashield: How To Fix A Leaky Porch Flat Roof

Keeping on top of all the external maintenance of the original part of Moregeous Mansions, whilst still renovating internally and sorting the new build, is a challenge and many things can be ‘put off’ however with water leaks, that isn’t a great idea. At the end of last year we restored about 12m of the old box gutter to the elevation which joins the old house with the new extension but there’s a further 15m or so on the original section of the house which is on its last legs. Every so often another section fails, pouring water down through the cavity inside the house and the other week the internal down pipe collapsed in torrential summer rain, pouring gallons of Manchester’s finest onto an already oft repaired, leaky porch roof. What was supposed to be a shelter was suddenly an outdoor shower!

It was time for action. However, action means money and that’s something in short supply due to all the internal work required. I needed a fast, inexpensive solution to stop water pouring through old cracks in the top surface until a more permanent porch roof is fitted.

Lucky for me that help came in the form of some excellent advice from my roofer, who suggested we use a product called Durashield, a single coat, cold applied, elastic paint. It’s designed to provide an effective waterproof coating to pretty much any primed roof surface: asphalt, metal, GRP, fibreglass, wood, old lead, to name but a few. It basically gives a longer life expectancy in a couple of easy steps.
Our roofer painted and rollered it on after cleaning & preparing the surface, carefully going over all the cracks and around all the edges. Did I have a go? Course I did 😉

In less than a couple of hours it was all done. It’s effectively immediately, even if it rains, is dry in a day and fully cured in a week.

It’s a temporary fix which doesn’t give the prettiest of finishes when you compare it to my fishtail slates, for example, but it’s not half bad in my opinion. Looks clean and tidy, similar to lead in colour and most importantly – NO LEAKS!