Roof Leakage: Preventative Measures

[rook_hk]

I just moved into a 8F walk up with a private roof deck. It's a "as-is" property so all maintenance is on me.

Upon inspection I noticed some *very* light scattered discoloring on the ceiling and so before I repaint, if possibly I'd like to see if there's anything I can do on the roof to provide some additional protection here.

The accessible area of the roof terrace is mostly brick tiles and covers most of the unit (see pic). An inaccessible portion over the bedroom is just concrete.

I was thinking of laying some artificial grass over some of it but I imagine that just displaces water.

Any suggestions/recommendations are appreciated.

[imparanoic]

based on my parent's rural house in sha tau kok which is tiled and experiences tempature up to 35c during the summer and used to leaks when it rained heavy, i once used 'kangaroo' brand water sealant which can be painted and it was good for a few years

[JAherbert]

can see the mud/muck in the drainage channel near the parapet wall traps water and prevents draiange, first clean it and keep it clean.

Artificial grass will make it worse, it will trap water and the roof will never dry out.

since replacing the roof covering is not an option, that leaves trying to seal to whole roof with sealant, and thats likely to fail because the sealant needs to be applied to a clean dry surface.

[rook_hk]

Make sense. What about sealing up any obvious holes in the grout between the brick tiles? Would that do anything?

[jack55]

Or you could do the HK thing and renovate the roof to be a living space. I suppose since you're responsible for maintenance on something like a roof, you've bought it?

[rook_hk]

No, just renting. But 500sf unit (in good shape) in SYP for 10K came with the condition that he wouldn't be responsible for anything.

JAHerbert's obviously right... anything that impedes drying and drainage is dumb.

I just wonder if, in the interest of making it look a bit better and insulative, it would be feasible to scrub/wash, seal, and perhaps paint it (in addition to obviously keeping those drains clean).

[imparanoic]

a photo of the roof would be helpful

[rook_hk]

Is one not visible in the original post?

[JAherbert]

photo of the ceiling might be useful.

[rook_hk]

Ah, don't have ceiling pics at the moment. Like I said though, few random spots, pretty faint anyway.