Rubber roofing used to be a trade secret. Commercial roofers have been using EPDM on office blocks and warehouses since the 1960s, while homeowners were still getting felt torched onto their garages every ten years. That's changed. EPDM is now one of the most popular ways to cover a flat roof in the UK, and once people understand what it is, the felt conversation tends to end quickly. Here's what rubber roofing actually is, what it does well, one thing it doesn't do (that plenty of websites claim it does), and which kit fits which roof. What is EPDM rubber roofing? EPDM is short for ethylene propylene diene monomer. Nobody says that, not even the people who make it, so rubber roofing it is. In plain terms it's a sheet of synthetic rubber, about 1.2mm or 1.5mm thick, that turns up as one piece cut to the size of your roof. You glue it down, dress the edges with trims, and that's the waterproof layer done. The material itself is seriously tough. Frost doesn't stiffen it, sun doesn't crack it, and moss can't get a grip on it. Felt loses on all three counts. Fit an EPDM roof properly and it should still be watertight in 50 years, which is why it's quietly taken over on garages, extensions, sheds and porches. Why it beats felt One sheet, no joins Felt fails at its joints. Every lap and seam is a place where water can get in once the bitumen ages, and on a typical garage roof there are a lot of them. EPDM covers the whole roof in a single piece, so the main failure point of felt simply doesn't exist. The only detailing work is at the edges and corners, which is exactly what the trims and corner pieces in our kits are for. Almost zero maintenance Once it's down, an EPDM roof needs very little from you. No re-coating, no patching every few winters, no chippings to replace. An occasional sweep to clear leaves and a glance at the edge trims once a year is about it. Compare that with felt, which most people end up redoing every 10 to 15 years, and the maths favours rubber even though the upfront cost is a bit higher. The insulation question, answered honestly You'll read on some websites that EPDM "insulates your roof". It doesn't, and we'd rather tell you straight. The membrane is barely thicker than a pound coin. Real insulation comes from the build-up underneath: the deck, insulation boards and vapour control layer. The Energy Saving Trust has a good guide to roof insulation if you want to understand what actually keeps the heat in, and it notes that around a quarter of an uninsulated home's heat disappears through the roof. What EPDM does do is protect that insulation properly. If you're building a warm roof, fit a vapour barrier such as ALUTRIX 600 or the self-adhesive StrataShield SA ALU beneath the insulation, then let the rubber keep the whole lot dry for the next half century. Which kit for which roof This is where EPDM gets easy, because we've already packaged the right materials for the common jobs. Garage roof kits cover the most common flat roof in Britain. SkyGuard shed kits start at £70 for garden buildings, and they're the same kits we recommend in our log cabin roofing guide. Dormer kits handle those small, fiddly roofs that felt always struggles with. For extensions and larger flat roofs, the Classic Bond kits come cut to size, or you can price your exact roof in our EPDM kit builder. There are even Resitrix gutter lining kits for leaking concrete and finlock gutters, a job most people don't realise rubber can solve. Can you fit it yourself? Yes, and this is half the appeal. There are no flames and no hot bitumen. You roll the sheet out, let it relax, glue the middle with water-based deck adhesive, bond the edges with contact adhesive, and work the air out with a roller. The ClassicBond tool kit costs about £15 and covers the specialist bits. Before you order anything, spend an evening in our EPDM online training centre. The videos show the full install, and you'll know within twenty minutes whether it's a job you fancy. And since most of these roofs are reached by ladder, read the HSE's ladder safety guidance first. Falls from ladders put more people in hospital than any other kind of fall from height, usually on quick jobs just like this one. Get a price for your roof Measure your roof, put the numbers into the kit builder, and you'll have a full price in a couple of minutes. Prefer to talk it through, or got an awkward roof shape? Call us on 0800 612 7903. You can also browse our other roofing guides if you're still weighing up rubber against fibreglass.
