A Cat On a Flat Roof Can Be Very Costly!
In over 37 years of doing nothing but roof repairs and roof replacement we thought we had seen everything. Recently we got a call from a home owner in Fairfax County VA for a job requiring flat roof repairs. For some time they had noticed a very bad odor coming from the closet in the hallway and called us when they started seeing damp spots in the ceiling above the closet’s top shelf.
Upon investigating the roof, we soon learned the reason for the smell and the wet ceiling. This home had been constructed with a flat roof system and then covered with pea gravel to protect it. The roof was in good shape, with all the drainage functioning correctly except for the spot right above the closet.
It appeared some sort of critter had been using that part of the roof for a private toilet, and there was evidence hidden under the gravel that it was a cat. After chatting with the home owners, an elderly couple, we added a few more pieces to the puzzle. Apparently this cat had developed the habit of using the flower bed for a toilet, so the couple had taken action to stop it. When they saw the cat heading for the flowers they squirted it with a water pistol to train it to stay away from their prize roses.
Cats by nature prefer to bury what they leave behind, so it had started climbing up a huge maple tree close to the house and neatly doing its duty in the roof gravel. After we completed the roof repairs, we ran a section of decorative fencing around the roof and the cat had to find a new facility!
