Professional Rubber Slate Roofing Installation in Western Pennsylvania

The Roofing Company – TPO, EPDM Rubber, Modified Bitumen, Built-Up, and Rubber Slate

Contact 412-858-8858 to Book a Free Site Visit

 

A pitched roof works by shedding runoff rapidly — the pitch handles most of the work, and shingled courses tolerate a certain amount of imprecision.

A low-slope assembly has neither of those things. Water leaves unhurriedly, stands at whatever point drainage is the wrong way, and the membrane is a single surface whose any seam becomes a possible entry point. Flat roofing work is genuinely another discipline from shingle roofs, and crews that treat it like the same trade deliver the results anybody would predict.

The Roofing Company handles Rubber Slate Roofing Installation for property owners throughout Western Pennsylvania.

Call 412-858-8858 to arrange an assessment.

The Five Systems and Which They Is For

  • Thermoplastic polyolefin. Seams are thermally welded, producing a weld no weaker than the material itself. Generally light-colored, and that lowers cooling-season heat absorption measurably. The prevailing specification on contemporary light commercial installations.
  • EPDM rubber. A synthetic membrane, most often black. The seams are taped and not welded, which puts joint execution the decisive variable. Exceptionally durable where installed well.
  • Modified bitumen systems. Asphalt-based membrane strengthened and applied in layers. Hard-wearing and tolerant of rooftop traffic, and that is worth having on a roof supporting rooftop equipment somebody must service.
  • Built-up. The traditional layered system — felts and bitumen assembled up across repeated courses. Genuinely still appropriate on particular structures.
  • Synthetic slate. A different product entirely — used where slate's appearance of slate is required without the structural load.

The Drainage Question — the Actual Whole Game

"Flat" is a misnomer. A well constructed flat roof has an intentional pitch running to drains. When the fall has gone wrong, runoff stands, and standing rainfall amounts to by far the largest dependable forecaster of membrane trouble.

For that reason our assessment looks at the drains and overflows to see about blockage, the pitch to the drains, evidence of previous pooling — and this leaves clear rings even once the pond is dried — and if rooftop equipment added after construction went on currently blocks the intended path.

The Points at Which These Systems Leak

  • The seams. On a TPO membrane, an under-welded joint stays shut across a year or two and then opens.
  • Penetrations. Each vent, curb, and scupper. Mechanical equipment added later by another installer is a very common cause.
  • Edge metal and the terminations. Where the sheet ends and gets mechanically fastened. Wind uplift pulls most exactly here.
  • Physical damage. Impact from tools, limb impact, and rooftop use over material never intended to take traffic. Traffic pads are modest expense.

Which Factors Move Low-Slope Cost

Flat roof quotes turn on another set of factors from shingle jobs:

  • Removal or recover. Certain old assemblies permit another layer on top of the previous. Many don't, and wet insulation below an existing system rules the option out entirely.
  • Roof insulation along with slope systems. Building in the fall by means of sloped systems adds genuine money, and it fixes the single largest predictor of membrane failure.
  • Attachment system. Mechanically attached, completely adhered, or ballasted. Uplift calculations, the deck construction, and the building height decide the choice.
  • Detail density. Any curb, roof drain, and stack is individual detail. A roof carrying considerable mechanical plant is a considerably distinct proposition from an open deck of equal square footage.

Our Ten-Year Workmanship Guarantee

Low-slope makers offer manufacturer membrane warranties, frequently conditional on the work by a certified contractor and on documented upkeep. Such requirements are real, and we'll set out clearly which items a given product asks of the owner to hold its guarantee alive.

Separately from whichever manufacturer warranty applies, qualifying low-slope projects through The Roofing Company include a ten-year term of labor guarantee. A problem traceable to our welding inside that term comes back as our cost to correct.

Flat Roofs in the Pennsylvania Climate

Snow does not shed away from a low-slope roof. It remains, melts in part, turns to ice overnight, and that mass is considerably greater than dry powder to the same height. Drainage that functions perfectly adequately in June will be blocked with ice shut in January.

This turns precisely two items count locally considerably more than the same items do further south: secondary provision in order that a frozen primary drain does not pond the structure, and a check going into winter and not only after a leak shows up.

Call 412-858-8858 to arrange an assessment at your roof in Western Pennsylvania.