What You Need To Know About Flat Roof Coatings

Now is the time for commercial building owners to look at flat roof coatings in a new light!

Flat roof coatings:

can be a good investment for many commercial building owners. A flat roof coating like Conklin’s roof coatings can extend the life of a roof because it lowers the roof temperature. It can also lead to additional energy savings as the temperature is reduced by the reflective white roof coating.

Still, because there are so many different types of roofs in use today, specifying a flat roof coating isn’t easy. Different substrates require different coatings. A roof coating’s adhesion might depend as much on the substrate’s characteristics as on the coating type. In general, it is more difficult for roof coatings to adhere to hard, smooth, chemically inert surfaces and easier on rough, irregular, chemically active surfaces.

A coating’s adhesion to a substrate often improves when the installers put down a primer before applying the roof coatings. Roof coating manufacturers recommend certain primers for managers trying to match a specific topcoat with a specific substrate. Managers should use only the roof coating or primer specified by the coating’s manufacturer.

With the introduction of roof membranes such as ethylene propylene diene monomer (EPDM), polyvinyl chloride (PVC), thermal polyolefin (TPO), Hypalon, modified bitumen, and built-up roofing, manufacturers have developed a variety of flat roof coatings to address multiple substrates with different adhesion and weathering characteristics.

Each of these flat roof coatings has different cost and performance factors. Due to variations in coating formulations, a building owner should work closely with a trained Conklin contractor to make sure they specify the right flat roof coating for the roof substrate and that workers perform the correct repairs before applying the coating.

To enhancing a flat roof’s sustainability typically requires recoating the flat roof at the end of it’s warranty to extend its service life. Most coatings are field-applied, and their success depends on real-world conditions and workers’ skills. To ensure proper curing, an experienced contractor should pay careful attention to consistent application and changing weather conditions.

Roof coatings already are contributing to the bottom line of many commercial building owners by producing a return on investment in a few years, rather than several decades.

A trained Conklin contractor can apply roof coatings without delay and do not need to tear off most existing roofs. Coatings can extend the roof’s life, and they are suitable for most buildings.

A flat roof coating can extend a roof’s performance life indefinitely!