I know from experience that finding a leak in a flat roof can be very difficult and expensive. In our house it took 3 different roofers, making multiple visits, to identify the point in our flat roof that a leak was coming from. The reason why identifying leaks in flat roofs is difficult is that very often the place where the leak shows in the ceiling below can be quite different from the place at which the leak is occurring in the flat roof itself.
The first places to look for leaks on a flat roof are flashing and joints or seals of any kind. Now, flashings are used at the point at which the roof joins adjacent non-roofing material such as brickwork. For example above our kitchen extension we have a parapet wall that is at one edge of the roof and flashing goes from the roof to the parapet wall.
As described at flat roofing, a competent roofer will first examine such flashings to i.d. gaps through which water could maybe pass. Flashings are typically made of a metal material like lead.
It is also usually challenging to test for leaks on a flat roof in the way you could on other types of roofs. The reason is because it could take hours for water to trickle down to the ceiling from the moment you pour it on a suspect area on the roof. What this amounts to is that pratically, its very hard to test and then track multiple suspect places. This is covered in more detail at the epdm roofing web page.
The key to flat roof repair is to know in upfront the areas most likely to be susceptible to leaks. The best test regrettably is to carry out the work to close suspect gaps and then wait to see if the leak persists. Hence flat roof repair is heavily dependent on the integrity and intelligence of the contractor you hire.
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