Restoring a Residential Flat Roof

Cleveland Heights, OH

Many home owners across the nation have the same problem: they have a flat roof over their entire home, or just over portion of their house like a sun room. All roofs need periodic maintenance, but nothing is as difficult as keeping a flat roof waterproof.

In this job report, we are reporting from Cleveland Heights, Ohio. The home was built in 1914 with a breakfast room with a flat roof. The bad news: especially in the winter, thawing snow causes extensive leaks. In fact, ceilings and walls have suffered extensive damage. Once examined closely, it became evident that this flat roof has had a long history of problems, as indicated by a number of patches in various areas of the roof. Second concern: that particular room is always cold during the winter months.

When analyzing available solutions, it seemed that most roofing solutions would not really offer any significant improvement. Whether single ply solutions, modified bitumen or a conventional built-up roof, all these options had the same shortcomings:

• They would be difficult to install due to the construction of the existing roof, which had corners and a built groove as a rain gutter.
• None of these options lent itself to a tapered installation without excessive cost.
• All would add weight, which might exceed the total capacity of the roof deck, and might require a tear-off of the old roof – both a mess and expensive.
• None of these systems would add any significant insulation value.

Everything changed when the E:zero team offered to solve all the problems: they simply advised the homeowner to spray roofing foam and then protect it permanently with silicone coatings. The benefits:

• No tear-down of the old roof required
• Only half a pound added per square foot of installed roof
• Since the E:zero foam is spray applied, if can be applied to any shape
• Second spray advantage: tapered installation is no problem. This is a huge advantage. The sloped application avoids ponding water.
• The foam is coated with a VOC-free silicone coating system, which is applied in two passes. This particular system contains 25% post-consumer contents (old rubber roofs). Silicones are inorganic in nature and thus inherently and permanently UV stable.
• Spray-applied also means that the roof fully adhered across the entire roof surface and is monolithic, without any seams which are prone to failure.
• Best of all: the system provides waterproofing and insulation in a single application. This solution actually provides about R-21 insulation R-value at 3" application thickness. Since the existing roof did not need to be removed, the R- value is in addition to whatever the old roof provided.

Needless to say, the home owner chose the E:zero system. It was applied in a couple of hours with no mess. The foam truck showed up, and except for a little prep work only the hose was pulled onto the roof, and the roof sprayed. The silicone coating was applied by roller. The coating protects the foam from the UV light and also offers additional waterproofing. Typically, foam roofs are used on large commercial roofs; however, a small roof will benefit just as much.

 

The best part: except for recoating the silicone every 15 to 20 years, the actual foam roof will last forever!