Roofing Material Options for Commercial Buildings

When deciding what type of roofing material to use for a commercial building, it is important to know what each type is. There are four main types of roofs that range from membrane to rubber and even metal. Even if you are not looking to get a new roof, it helps to be able to identify your roof. Roof care begins with understanding what roofing material you have.

PVC

PVC roofs are a typically white, membrane roofing material. This membrane lowers cooling costs because of the reflective qualities of the material. Some suppliers prefabricate the material into large deck sections. This lowers the amount of field seaming.  When there is less field seaming, there is less room for error, and the seams are where more roofing systems experience issues. The flashings use the same roofing material and also can be prefabricated to help give a better installation. While PVC membrane materials can cost more, the low cost of installation labor because of prefabrications often makes PVC’s price competitive with other materials.

TPO

TPO’s wide use started in the 1990’s but has been reformulated at least four times since then. Even though TPO is widely used, it can require a lot of maintenance.  The amount of field seaming is more than a prefabricated PVC system since it is supplied in rolls. Flashings use a different material around protrusions. This can leave more room for error since it is not as compatible with TPO. There is also a different roofing material on the top and bottom of the TPO membrane which can make it harder for the seams to attach.

EPDM

EPDM roofing systems can either be fully adhered, mechanically attached, or ballasted. This makes it easy to use on different types of roofs since the application can differ. The seams can not be heat welded so the use of seam tape is necessary. Seam tape tends to break down easier, and will require more maintenance. An EPDM system does not typically have any scrim reinforcement and if any part is torn a ‘zipper’ effect will occur. This mean that if the wind catches the tear, it will grab ahold and make the tear bigger and bigger. A key thing to remember is that EPDM roof material mostly comes in black and will absorb more heat. Therefore making the cost of keeping your building cool go up.

Metal

If taken care of properly, metal roofs last a long time. A common misconception is that once you have a metal roof there is no need to worry about maintaining it. We have found that once a metal roof begins to experience problems, more issues will continue to pop up. This will occur until you get a new roof, and if you wait too long it will have to be torn off.  Waiting too long also affects the materials underneath resulting in more material being torn off. The tear off process is one of the reasons that replacing a metal roof can get expensive. A good way to combat this is with a metal retrofit, but it can only be done if the materials under the metal roof are still in good shape. That is why it is important to notice issues early and contact your local roofer.

If your roof is experiencing any issues or you want to replace it with better roofing material, give Royalty a call at 800-303-8392. We can let you know what is best for your building with a free estimate.