HOW DO YOU KNOW IF YOUR ROOF IS A GOOD CANDIDATE?
If you’re interested in silicone roof coatings, the first question you should ask is “Can you coat your roof with silicone?” If your roof is a good candidate, move forward. If your roof is a bad candidate (coal tar pitch), abandon the idea. But what if your roof is somewhere in the middle? It’s not on our list of explicitly approved substrates, but it’s not explicitly listed as a bad candidate either. They fall somewhere in the middle on a list of “generally good candidates”. How can you determine if you can coat your roof with silicone? This guide should help you.
Substrates Without Specs that Are Probably Good Candidates
These substrates are most often good candidates for silicone, but not always:
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Aged asphalt
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Cap sheet
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Skylight
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OSB
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Parapet Walls
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Camper/RV
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SEBS
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Steel
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Aluminum
If your roof is on this list, then you need to follow a few simple steps to determine the “coatability” and possibility of your project. These steps will be the same for each system and when completed they should tell you if you can coat your roof or not.
1. Visual inspection of roof and building structure.
First, just perform a quick rundown to see if the roof and building are and you expect them to remain reasonably sound for the next 20-30 years. Any time less than that and you should start considering completely replacing the components that are at risk of failure. There’s no point in restoring your roof if the roof or building is going to be torn down in 6 years.
Courses of Action:
- Roof and building appear to be in good structural condition > Continue forward in the process.
- Roof and building appear to be in poor structural condition > Do not consider a coating for your project until structures are made safe.
2. If everything is in good shape, perform an adhesion test.
We offer adhesion test kits that will tell you whether or not our silicone will adhere to the roof surface. Once the structure is confirmed, clean off a portion of the roof, apply a small amount of coating, embed about half of a 6″ strip of fabric in the coating, then apply another layer of coating on top of everything. Wait 24 hours, then pull on the exposed fabric. if the coating remains adhered to the roof, then you have good adhesion. If the coating peels up with the fabric and pulls off the roof, you may need a primer or may not be able to use our coating at all.

Courses of Action:
- Adhesion test reveals good adhesion > Continue forward in the process.
- Adhesion test reveals poor adhesion > Investigate primers.
3. If the adhesion test reveals good adhesion, inspect the roof for pitfalls in the coating process.
Look for areas of ponding water, large gaps that will require flashing grade or fabric to cover, missing sheet metal, damaged flashings, and any other major issues. These problems all require special attention prior to applying silicone, and if there is a significant number, you’ll need to understand the labor costs involved.
Courses of Action:
- Inspection reveals labor costs of prepping roof won’t be too significant > Continue forward in the process.
- Inspection reveals labor costs of prepping roof may be significant > Call a contractor to get estimate of roof prep work.
4. Once the roof is inspected and cleared, you have a roof that can be coated with silicone.
If you’ve met the previous three points, a silicone coating can be used on your roof. Contact Progressive Materials for a full quote on your roof and to get the process started.
Conclusion
If you’re wondering if you can coat your roof with silicone, these steps should provide good guidelines for the answer. Of course, if you’d like help answering these questions and determining if your roof is a good candidate, we are more than happy to help you work through these points. Contact us today if you’d like some guidance as you work through the process of determining if your roof can be coated with silicone.