WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT COMMERCIAL ROOF COATINGS?
Many people have an interest in commercial roof coatings but simply don’t know enough about them to make an informed decision. It’s hard to purchase something, especially something as costly and long-lasting as a roof coating, without knowing much about the product. Commercial roof coatings often get ignored because they are the newcomer in the market and many buyers simply aren’t aware of them or don’t know much about them. This post and the next series of posts have been written to help anyone interested in commercial roof coatings gain a basic understanding of the system. This series won’t make you an expert, but hopefully it will give you enough information to make better roofing decisions.
What Is the Purpose of Commercial Roof Coatings?
Generally speaking, the purpose of commercial roof coatings is to improve the performance of your roof and increase its lifespan. Roof coatings are designed to be spray or roll-applied directly to your existing roof surface. This new coating protects your building from leaks thanks to its monolithic structure (meaning no seams), self-adhering properties (meaning no fasteners), and flashing capabilities (meaning no special features around pipes, just one membrane).
On top of virtually eliminating leaks from your roof surface, most commercial roof coatings are reflective, meaning they don’t absorb UV rays, but reflect them back into the atmosphere instead. This keeps your roof surface cooler, and keeps the interior of your building cooler, saving you money.
Types of Commercial Roof Coatings
When talking about commercial roof coatings, there are several different options available. Silicone, acrylic, aluminum, polyurethane, and others. However, the main competitors in the commercial roof coatings market are silicone and acrylic. We have written extensively on the similarities and differences of these two coating types, so we won’t get back into it here.
Commercial Roof Coatings Benefits
So what are the benefits provided by commercial roof coatings? Why would anyone invest in this system versus any other system available? Let’s look at the benefits provided by commercial roof coatings to let you decide if they’re worth it or not.
No Leaks
As we mentioned above, commercial roof coatings almost completely eliminate leaks from your roof. You may still have a leak now and then, but they are so rare and so easy to fix you’ll wonder how you ever lived without a commercial roof coating.
Reflective
Again, we already covered this quickly. Commercial roof coatings are almost always reflective, keeping the sun’s rays out of your building which keeps your building cooler. This saves you money and keeps your workers happy.
Easy Installation
Whether you’re a contractor looking to add commercial roof coatings to your repertoire, or a building owner who wants to stop leaks, the easy installation can benefit you. Contractors will save time, money and headaches, while building owners can get their new roof quicker for less money and without exposing the interior of their building to the elements.
There are many other benefits of commercial roof coatings, as well as many benefits of silicone roof coatings (what we manufacturer). Feel free to read more on the subject at these links.
Commercial Roof Coating Installation
Ok, so you’re interested in the benefits that commercial roof coatings provide; but how are they installed? Well, as you saw above, easy installation is one of the benefits of a commercial roof coating, so let’s see exactly how easy they are to install.
Inspect Your Roof
The first step is to inspect your roof and ensure that it is a good candidate for a coating. This means there is no standing water on the roof 48 hours after rainfall. No standing water tells you that the roof has adequate slope and will handle a coating properly.
Make Any Repairs
Next, you’ll need to make any repairs to the roof, such as repairing sheet metal, fixing protrusions or removing wet insulation from past leaks. These repairs need to be made before applying the coating because once the coating is applied it will seal in all these problems.
Power-wash the Roof
This step is pretty self-explanatory, simply clean the roof. This is recommended to be done with a power-washer, but other cleaning methods will work as long as the roof is clear of dirt and debris.
Install the Coating
Once the roof has been inspected, repaired, and cleaned, all that’s left is to install the coating. This can be done very easily, simply spray or roll-apply the coating onto the roof surface, let it cure for about a day, and then you have a brand new roof.
Occasionally a primer is required for commercial roof coatings to adhere to a roof properly. This is more common when using an acrylic coating, but still not extremely common. If a primer is needed, it should be installed after the roof is power-washed.
Commercial Roof Coating Maintenance
How are commercial roof coatings maintained? Is it difficult to take care of them? No. In fact, the maintenance of a commercial roof coating is about as easy as it gets. The details of how to maintain a commercial roof coating vary with the type of material you choose to install, but the general principles are the same: find the problem, clean the area, add more coating until there is no hole/cut/gap in the coating. That’s it, simply add more of whatever coating you initially installed and you’ll be good to go.
Recoating Commercial Roof Coatings
Perhaps the greatest benefit of commercial roof coatings is the fact that they can be recoated at the end of their lives, and therefore have their lives extended 10, 15, even 20 years longer. When a silicone coating, for example, reaches the end of its initial life, simply power wash the roof and install a new layer of coating over top of it. You can get a new roof coating, a new warranty, and up to 20 more years of protection for a fraction of the cost of replacing your roof.
Conclusion
Commercial roof coatings are a great system that is often just misunderstood. If you are interested in learning more about silicone roof coatings, give us a call and we’ll be glad to answer any questions you may have.
