Scored some rubber roofing. How to seal small holes and tears?

[wahoowad]

Thanks for the tips to find rubber roofing to replace my dilapidated tarps. I scored several scraps from a roofing contractor - great size and shape to fit several stacks. The guy tossed aside some with small tears and hand selected a couple good ones and even tossed them in my truck.

Once home I was able to look at them closer and can see random small holes - maybe the size of a BB. Some smaller, only a couple bigger. How to seal them? I don't think ducttape (my usual tarp repair) will stick to the rubber.

Can I buy a inner tube repair kit with a lot of circle repair dots? What about cutting an existing junk innertube into circles and using contact cement?

 

[pen]

If you are just top covering with the stuff, a few holes wouldn't bother me much.

But, if it were me, I'd head to the garage and look for an open tube of black RTV or even a tube of the black-jack roofing tar that's probably about to go hard on it's own anyway and put a gob on that in the holes just to use it up.

 

[TreePointer]

FlexSeal!

Idunno. I just thought that rowboat with a screen door bottom was cool.

 

[bigbarf48]

Yeah I wouldnt worry about that for a second but if you just want to, pen got it right. Some RTV, silicone, etc will be quick and easy

 

[BrotherBart]

Used the wonderful stuff for ten years and never sealed any small holes. But you could go back and get one of the pieces he chucked aside and use tire patch cement to make some patches and cover the holes. Then take a couple of OCD pills.

 

[wahoowad]

This was the first year I had significant water leakage with my tarps, in fact still separating out a lot of wood I kind of need now and having to restack for next year. So I'm intent on not allowing any through.

 

[Applesister]

Used the wonderful stuff for ten years and never sealed any small holes. But you could go back and get one of the pieces he chucked aside and use tire patch cement to make some patches and cover the holes. Then take a couple of OCD pills.

That could apply to any one of us.

 

[Woody Stover]

What length and width were you able to get?
Was this torn off? I wouldn't think new roofing would have holes? Seems like if you showed up at a job, you could get as much torn off stuff as you could haul. I'm gonna need a bunch....
Polyurethane caulk is really durable but you have to use the whole tube pretty quick or it will dry out.
Why don't they make half-length tubes of caulk? I guess they would be cutting into their profits and those of the landfills as well. We wouldn't want that....it would be un-American.

 

[wahoowad]

I took the first 3 pieces the guy pulled out. The guy was nervous because his front office people told him to sell it for 50 cents a sq. ft. and he thought it was ridiculous because they otherwise had to pay to dispose of it. He said to take it and don't tell them, so I took what he pulled out and left quickly. The pieces were varied size and I think mine are 6x8, 4x11, 8x8 which are going to work out just fine.

I plan to go back for a few more pieces to satisfy my OCD and drop the guy off a 12-pack.

 

[peakbagger]

Its highly likely that the "rubber" is actually EPDM. There are special sealants for EPDM. If you use a product for asphalt roofing it will damage the EPDM. It happens quite often that a janitor with a couple of tubes of asphalt cement will destroy a EPDM roof while trying to seal leaks. The roof warranty is generally null and void once the goop goes on.

 

[DougA]

As Brother Bart says, tire patch used on inner tubes works perfectly. Clean the EPDM first to get a better bond. I've got an EPDM roof.