While EPDM roofing has been a popular choice for low-slope commercial roofing, we recommend a roof coating system because they are seamless and highly reflective.
What is the Advantage of a Seamless Roof?
Seamless roofs provide excellent waterproofing capabilities. Roof coatings are spray applied across your entire roof surface, including difficult areas such as HVAC equipment, pipes, drains and other hard to reach and seal areas. These seamless membranes have no regions that need patching or sealing, creating a very durable, uniform surface that has excellent strength and flexibility.
EPDM roofing systems are applied in one of three ways: ballasted, mechanically attached or full adhered. The EPDM comes in rolls of varying widths that need to be adhered together at the seams. The more seams there are, the larger the risk of error is during installation at these joints. Seams begin failing, ripping and tearing due to improper installation, erosion and membrane shrinkage. Seam failure is also the number one causes of roof deterioration that an EPDM roof experiences because these seams provide an excellent avenue for water to penetrate the roof deck and seep inside the building.
Do I Care about High Reflectivity?
While many jurisdictions require a “cool roof” and many building owners desire one, EPDM’s surface is black providing no reflective capabilities. A highly reflective roof coating system is a great advantage to a building owner and/or tenant because these white roofs provide a cooler ambient air temperature inside the building with less air-conditioning usage. This saves a tremendous amount of energy usage and cost throughout the year. The reflectivity capabilities also provide UV protection against premature aging and damaging to your roof. (See the Harbor Freight Case History for a testimonial on their experience with an AcryShield Cool Roof System.)
What to if You Currently Have an EPDM Roof?
We have an excellent EPDM roof coating system that can fully restore and renew your EPDM roof into a white, highly reflective, seamless roof without worrying about a costly tear-off or any disruptions to your work environment during installation. Click here to learn more about restoring your EPDM roof!
For more information on our roof coating systems, download our full line brochure or contact a roof coating professional, today 800-423-9557!
The 106 SQ mechanically fastened EPDM roof was beginning to show its age after years of heat, sunlight and rain. Rather than replace the roof, the facility manager at the school decided to restore the roof using acrylic coatings. The project called for the use of the National Coatings Corporation AcryShield Roof Maintenance System (ARM) using the AcryShield A502 primer and A500 reflective topcoat system. This coating system is unique in the roof coating industry as it is not only waterborne, but also does not require a corrosive primer that is normally used to achieve adequate adhesion to EPDM. The project called for reinforcing the seams and applying >24 mils of coating.
