What is the Best Coating to Use on a Flat Roof?

A Brief Look Into Restorative Roof Coating Alternatives

The process of choosing the perfect roof coating to restore a flat, commercial roof can ultimately be confusing and frustrating—there are so many different options out there, it can typically result in several differing opinions on what’s actually the right choice or the correct process.

In our experience at Everest, we’ve found that—despite many professionals’ best efforts—much of the information that is put out there on roof coatings is painfully inaccurate. Worse, some perspectives out there might guide people toward options that are less expensive up-front but end up costing far more in the long-run.

Flat Roof Coatings: A Viable Alternative to Roof Replacement

It’s our professional opinion that restoring a flat roof using coatings can be a great alternative to entirely replacing a commercial roof.

Why do we think so? For several reasons. These are some of the main benefits we’re big fans of:

• No tear-off required
• There are 10,15, and even 20-year warranties available
• There’s less-to-no downtime for the building in question
• It’s a much more environmentally friendly option when compared to replacing an entire roof

Here’s another fact—roof replacement is very expensive. Because of this, the roofing industry has been marketing the liquid applied coatings as a good long term alternative to roof replacement. When a commercial roof reaches the end of its life cycle, there is a small window of time that it can have coatings applied to extend the life of the roof.

After the initial roof coating is applied, additional applications of coatings can be subsequently applied to the roof indefinitely to extend the life of the roof. Every single time a roof is restored instead of torn-off, it saves even more precious space in landfills.

Picking the Right Coating—Understanding the Pros and Cons of Flat Roof Coatings

Here’s an important distinction, though—there’s no single roof coating that’s going to work best for every flat roof out there. It all depends on the type of roof you have, the needs of the roof, and the strengths and weaknesses you’re willing to deal with.

There are so many coating options out there and each offer their own pros and cons. Further, a specific preparation is going to be needed in order to ensure a successful coating process.

With so many unique types of coatings out there that can be used to restore a roof and put a serviceable membrane in place, it is important to choose a manufacturer who understands all the different coating technologies, how they work, and what’s needed in order to provide long term solutions.

It is also important to partner with contractors who are experienced and certified by the manufacturers for the material they’ll be applying. As you’re probably figuring out, there are many different things that need to be considered when choosing the correct system for a particular roof.

Sometimes—and truthfully, in many cases—a particular roof may call for a hybrid solution using different systems. At Everest, because we manufacture many different coating technologies, we can create a hybrid solution using different coating systems to fix specific areas of the roof.  Ultimately, it takes a quality team to design a long-lasting solution for a particular roof in order to fix the problem once and for all.

Choosing the Right Contractor—A Crucial Step For Your Roof’s Well-Being

At Everest Systems, we proudly manufacture a full line of acrylic and silicone roof coating—as well as polyurethane foam—to tailor solutions to every kind of commercial roof. Why? Because we believe that choosing the right material is the first step—but choosing the right contractor is just as important.

Our team is made up of only certified contractors who can apply for full-system warranties. At Everest, we understand that the key to a successful roof restoration project is the right contractor.

Unfortunately, there are plenty of subpar contractors out there who are just waiting to tackle any project offered to them—and in most cases, those projects won’t turn out as well as you’d hoped. We believe it’s well worth the time and effort to vet the contractor that is going to be used on any given project.

We believe that the old adage is true—you get what you pay for.

Everest Can Help—Contact Us Today!

We’ve made it our responsibility and obligation to take as much of the guess-work out of roofing projects as possible. How? By ensuring that we only use certified contractors who are able to receive an Everest Systems full-labor and material system warranty.

Are you ready to find the right partner for your next roofing project? Everest can help. We’re dedicated to helping you decide which roofing system is the best for your building and will allow the building to function as efficiently as possible.