The Firestone EPDM Rubber Roof has arrived! The membrane measures 9m by 9.5m or at least that is what is written on the label! It is all folded up and weighs tons! We haven’t unfolded it to find out if it is correct!
The other items delivered were two drums of rubber solution to stick the membrane down onto the roof boards. Each drum is labelled 5 gallons but it is also labelled 18.9 litres, which is strange until you realise that it is American Gallons and not English! So our two drums only adds up to 37.8litres and we had “ordered” 40 litres as the result of our calculations of the glue coverage rate! The web site stated that you can buy 2.5, 5 or 10litres containers of this glue so we ordered four 10litres containers. But we got two drums! Very odd and a little bit naughty by the retailer not to explain that the drums are American sizes.
Even more strange that the labels also states the coverage of 100 square feet per gallon so one drum would cover 500 square feet which is 46.5 square metres so the two drums adds to 93 square metres. Our roof area is 85.5 square metres (9m by 9.5m). The web site stated a coverage of 2square metres per litre so the 85.5 square metres would mean 42.75 litres hence why we ordered 40litres! Most Confusing and I think it is time for the Americans to go metric! Smile!
We got an adapter to allow us to make a hole in the corner of the roof to let the rain water through and down into our rain water collection and filtration system. It is a small piece of 110mm plastic pipe with a square piece of the rubber membrane stretched and glued on to the top and inside the pipe. It has a layer of very sticky substance with a peel off paper protection.
The next item is a set of aluminium bars for fixing the edges of the rubber membrane down. The bars are 2.5mm thick with a screw hole every 100mm. we decided to rely on these for holding down the rubber for long term peace of mind instead of wooden battens.
Finally we got contact adhesive for the edges of the roof to allow an instant stick (so the wind wont lift it off before we can fix with the strips), two pieces of flashing (for
sealing pipes through the roof) and the primer to allow these and the rain water adapter to stick permanently.
