Commercial

When it comes to covering up a flat roof, your options are both limited and expansive. What that means in a nutshell is that your traditional roofing materials such as asphalt shingles, concrete tiles, and corrugated metal are out of the window. That being said, flat roof systems such as PVC, TPO, EPDM rubber (not ideal in Arizona), and others, each offer their pros and cons.

So why can’t you put traditional roofing materials on a flat roof? Well, technically you can, but they are almost guaranteed to leak!

Systems like asphalt shingles and concrete or clay tiles are installed by overlapping one row on top of another. They work cohesively with the pitch of the roof to shed rainwater and snow as it falls from the sky. Since flat roofs have little to no pitch, the water would work itself underneath the shingles or tiles, eventually rotting the substrate and causing leaks on your interior.

Your main goal when covering a flat roof is to create a barrier that will be impenetrable to water.

• PVC Single-Ply Membrane – arguably the most popular of all flat roofing materials (some contractors even install ONLY PVC membranes.) PVC membranes are a single layer of thermoplastic material. PVC roofs are especially strong and durable.
• TPO – another single-ply roofing membrane that chemically bonds rubber, ethylene, and propylene as well as numerous filler materials. TPO roofs have been vastly growing in popularity ever since their introduction in the early 1990s. Part of what is fueling their recent rise is energy-efficiency, as they are more readily available in white and light gray (as well as black) compared to their closest competitors PVC and EPDM. TPO is said to offer the best of both EPDM and PVC in one package.
• Cap Sheet – a durable, modified bitumen membrane designed and manufactured to meet industry and code requirements. Used as a waterproofing membrane and is reinforced with a polyester mat, which is coated with a polymer-modified asphalt. Cap Sheet has a granule-surfaced roofing membrane designed to be used with a self-adhering base sheet to provide long-lasting protection for the low-slope areas of your property. System guarantees are available for up to 15 years. Systems are applied with out torches, open flames, hot asphalt, or messy solvent-based adhesives and are suitable for primed plywood decks and many other substrates.
• Silicon Spray – an example of the protective coating installed on a roof is a silicon spray. The biggest advantage of a spray on roof is foregoing any seams like you have with membranes. One would assume that spraying on a roof material would be much less expensive than applying a physical material, but in reality the silicon covering is one of the most expensive roofing procedures.
• Spray Polyurethane Foam – commonly referred to as SPF, is an insulating plastic that is sprayed on as a liquid that quickly expands to several times its original thickness creating a water tight roofing material. It has been used as a roofing system since the 1960's, and is endeared by large businesses for its ability to save more than 30% annually on heating and cooling costs and effectively pay for itself in a few years! Because it is a continuous solid surface after application, it offers exceptional strength against high winds.
• Elastomeric Coating – White elastomeric roof coatings have grown in popularity as part of the "cool roof" trend. polyurethane foam roofing benefits greatly from the coatings by getting great ozone and UV light protection. The heat reflexive properties also offer great benefits such as lowering cooling costs. Elastomeric roof coatings are also simple to use, VOC compliant and nontoxic..

• Damaged flashing
• Missing Shingles or Tiles
• Curling
• Blistering
• Rotting
• Buckling
• Algae Growth
• Cracked Caulking