How do I bathroom / kitchen / extension? etc.

We're about to do a double dormer loft conversion and ground floor extension, both of which will feature flat roof sections. Our builder is leaving it up to us to decide on the type of flat roof surface finish: felt, fibreglass or resin.

What are the pros and cons of each? Any experience/reasoning behind choice would be much appreciated...

Which 'resin'?

My choice would be driven by what the guarantee is on each option and what it costs.

Personally I'd go for whatever the no cost option is which is still covered by the loft guarantee

On my single story kitchen diner extension I went for fibreglass because absent anything happening to it which really fucks it up I can repair it easily myself. The kitchen diner does not have a ten year guarantee. If anything happens to it I'm likely on my own. On my loft it's a 3 layer felt system because that's what the loft company used and it has a ten year guarantee on it.

Felt is - for obvious reasons - what literally any roof person can deal with. It's difficult to fuck it up. Safe option. Doesn't last forever, but there's less chance of the fuckers who fit it to mess it up so badly that it fails prematurely. Looks shit and the slate dust / particles that runs off it is really annoying. Can last a long time if done right.

Fiberglass - looks good if done right. Could be repaired with off the shelf stuff. Can take footfall unlike felt so if you want an unofficial roof terrace... Easyier to mold in up stands for skylights / vents / flues etc. Ask your builder for evidence that they have done it before and not fucked it up. Probably better for areas where access is straightforward because pulling it all up when they inevitably fuck it up is a pita.

Resin? God knows.

Did they mention rubber - EDPM? Also looks good, kind of a half way house between felt and fibreglass. Can get fucked by branches falling on it but you just patch it like a tyre. The folks who sell it say it lasts forever but they are probably lying.

@ectoplasmosis
There are a few types of cold applied liquid roofing that probably fall into the category of ‘resin’. Bauder do one and Kemperol is another. the application is like fibreglass - usually a primer , first coat, reinforcing fleece, top coat etc. can get 20yr on it. But needs doing by approved installer. I’d consider it higher spec than general cure-it fibreglass stuff you can get at builders merchants

Rubber/EDPM with a green roof on top? Sedum for low profile, low maintenance, lightweight (less chance of increasing cost of structure). The plant stuff helps protect the roof finish.

Cat poops tho :D

Keeps the plants nourished I guess!

Good shout though.

Thanks everyone, very helpful.

I’m thinking felt for the loft dormer, and fibreglass/EDPM/rubber with sedum for the ground floor extension.

How big a problem is cat poop, and what can be done to mitigate it? There’ll be a kid’s bedroom window directly above the roof, so would be great if it wasn’t too turdful…

Cat poops tho :D

The substrate / density of most seedum puts them off, it seems - They just don't crap there. They sleep there instead.

The worst I've seen on either of my 2 growing roofs is some sort of owl pellet, and whole eggs / walnuts buried by the local idiot squirrels.

Seedum roofs are heavy though (up to 100kg / m²) - you'll need to check that the roof is able to support it without deflecting too much.

Who was it who championed valspar paint? I’m never using anything else again.

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We have one feature wall in Farrow and ball that I begrudgingly agreed to as that was the desired colour, everything else is a mix of Little Greene, Tikkurila, Albany super satin and vinyl Matt.

The F&B is a deep aubergine colour and it looks shite, coverage is terrible and a second pass of the brush cutting in just drags the paint off leaving a pink strip with no colour density, it’s sheen is a bit high and really tricky to lay off without windowpaining.
It also shows off the less than perfect plastering.
Something tells me it will be changed once my partner sees it on Monday.

People think Little Greene is overrated but I really like the finish, coverage and ease of use.

Apparently 20 years rubber lasts as Ive done 2 sheds already and have 1 left to do. Felt doesnt seem to last very long compared to it

Your loft is coming along nicely! I'll be keen to see the overall thing and looks like you managed to get something really good while not fully splashing £££

Idk if I championed it, but it's what we've generally used and I've suggested it before.

I did our sitting room in it recently using an F&B colour match (before we realised we didn't like the colour and I had to repaint it). I really liked it. Especially the finish. We went for the premium one.

The new paint was Dulux, and while I'm happy with the finish it wasn't as nice to paint with, and imo the finish texture isn't as nice....but not so much difference that I care. Even less so after painting a room twice.

Thanks! Will share once done but fear it will be late 2030 at this rate.
I think we are coming in at only a few more k than a full basic bitch fit out, largely down to my research and a fair bit of project management, however the trades have been absolutely fantastic, massive Essex LADs but also lovely and wholesome.

Yeah most our other rooms are little green and it wasn’t bad but this stuff defo feels better, have only down one coat and not sure it even needs a full second.

Apparently 20 years rubber lasts as Ive done 2 sheds already and have 1 left to do. Felt doesnt seem to last very long compared to it

There's some roofing felt on my parents' house that has been there doing its job since before they moved in.... in 1985.

As with most of these things, it's the quality of the install that most heavily influences the lifespan.

One of our neighbours is hyping this reflective roofing membrane which he’s used on his dormer to reduce temperatures in summer: https://www.renolit.com/en/industries/home-building/exterior/roofing/renolit-alkorplan-bright

Any thoughts?

What does it look like?

White, I'd imagine.

https://duckduckgo.com/?va=v&t=ha&q=RENOLIT+ALKORPLAN+Bright&iax=images&ia=images

Yep, it’s white.

Will instantly get covered in bird shit, but worth the reduction in heatwave temps?

Right. But overall. Maybe I should say how does it look.

Cause if this is your house I imagine it's cool.

less so if

In a residential dormer setting, it’s only applied to the top of the flat roof, so invisible to everyone but the seagull about to unleash its bowels over it.

This is our neighbour’s dormer roof:

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Can't help but think that if it is getting load of unwanted sun, stick a solar panel on it...that powers an AC unit.

Worth looking at if the white stuff assumes a warm / cold roof construction.

Not sure where to post, but this seems like a hotbed of good ideas so....

This wall used to have wood panelling which we've removed and will be re-plastered. After plastering the French door frame surround will no long meet the wall surface - currently estimating a few mm.

We like the cleaner look of no arcatrave(sp?). But I'm a bit stumped as to what to do.

My only thought was a browse of b&q for some sort of L-Shaped edging. However, then the question is how would you deal with the corners/joins between the two vertical sides and horizontal top?

Any smart and stylish ideas appreciated.

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