Rooftop decks

Just in time for spring, my South Philly rowhouse renovation is nearing completion. The weather played havoc with the schedule since you don't want to open up a roof with rain expected! One of the last issues is the rooftop deck. We have run into a few issues that are worth exploring.

The first, surprisingly, was to have an arbor or not. In this case the roof orients dead south and August in Philly is tough, so I suggested one. It will also shade the new family room. Some folks just like having umbrellas which will open the sky a bit in those in between months. New new cantileverd umbrellas are a bit more flexible for this.

I had hoped to reduce costs and complexity by using a reinforced vinyl roofing that is common on condo decks (Duradek). The builder (Springfield Construction) also proposed fiberglass, which is also common down the shore. The vinyl proved unexpectedly costly and the problem with both was integrating the arbor posts. With fiberglass you stood a chance of cracking at the posts and the detailing for the vinyl was trickier, although still doable. Now, there are different ways of attaching posts and rails that will work well, but for our layout, these were the issues.

We finally went back to the tried and true rubber roof (EPDM) which has a monolithic application good for water control on flat roofs and a good life expectancy, with a wood deck above. The two remaining issues are decking material, and access to the roof for maintenance.

For the decking we are probably going with PT wood, the best quality we can find, since the costs for Trex etc are too high for this budget. This will add a maintenance factor to it, but so does having to clean a synthetic deck. For access, we are considering a substructure with removable 3' square sections. This will give us a nice pattern for the deck as well.

There are a lot of considerations, including safety for children (higher rails, no benches at the side rails) furniture sizes and view, let alone privacy. But the views of sunsets and fireworks, the breezes in summer and a bit of outdoor space in the city are worth it!