That is NOT how the system should be installed. I would contact the roofer to rectify the issue.

Thanks!

Lou

Thanks for your input, and let me know.

Rich

[ADMIN]
Rich – I moved this comment here, to “streamline” the conversation. No reason to post this in other articles, where it makes no sense. PS – I resent the email AS-IS with no changes from the original.
[/ADMIN]

At first I was going to disallow your comment, due to some of your previous comments, where you blatantly posted personal “attacks” against me and my company, ON MY WEBSITE!

Note – those comments are still “in moderation”, and I will not approve them. Also, I wrote you a personal email to which you never responded – would you care to do so? I can find a copy of it and send it to you again, if you deleted it (which I think you did).

I did however approve this comment, and did not remove the link to your website, where I cannot leave comments.

Yes this is MY WEBSITE and I will post here the information that I believe to be true, and beneficial to my readers! I will not allow comments that attack me or my company! You are not alone – I recently had some dude from NH who posted VERY rude comments – NOT APPROVED here

That said – yes, IB Roof or PVC roofing or single ply roofing in general may not be the best option 100% of the time. However, it works in 95% of the situations and does so very well (IB Roof in particular, and since not all single plies are the same, I will from now on talk about this particular brand of PVC roofing).

What are the alternatives for most flat and low slope roofs?

Rubber Roof (EPDM), Modified Bitumen (Mod. Bit.), TPO, rolled asphalt (really – who even installs that junk anymore?), Built-up roofing (BUR) – a combination of tar / asphalt saturated roofing felt with hot-mopped tar or asphalt, with or without gravel. There are also products such as GAF Liberty, which is a form of cold-applied mod. bit., sometimes with TPO base ply, and similar products from other asphalt roofing shingles manufacturers.

There is also Spray Foam Roofing, and some other “exotic” roofing materials and coatings, but those are rare.

So, most “popular” choices are Rubber, Mod. Bit., and TPO as of late. All of these, except for TPO are problematic due to seam failures. TPO is unproven, and I won’t be getting in the whole TPO debate right now.

Mod. Bit. – whether cold applied or torched – how do you expect two plies to stick together well, if there are granules between them??? I do not mean specially made seams without granules – I mean in field penetration flashing. That will certainly leak and rather soon. Also, any ponding water and your warranty is null and void.

A smooth surface Mod. Bit. has same problems as rubber roofing, explained below.

Rubber roofing – same story – glued seams and with time, glue breaks down and fails = roof leak!

IB PVC roof’s seams are hot air welded, and when it comes to MY WORK – they do not leak! I agree that much emphasis should be put on the contractor installing your flat roof, but choosing a “defective” roofing material will have its consequences as well.

Bottom line – IB PVC flat roof works for me and it works great. But it also works for MANY other responsible roofing contractors in Alaska, California, Colorado, and all across US. Keep in mind that IB Roof Systems is an Oregon based company, and most of their installer base is on the West Coast and on the Western half of US in general.

I use IB Roofs because I KNOW they will not leak after WE install them. I do not have such faith in other roofing materials. And I am open minded. Do you think I don’t know how much business we loose to cheaper Rubber and TPO roofs? You think I’m not tempted to start offering those? I am! Almost every week I give this a good thought. BUT, I know that I will be doing disservice to my customers and myself. Yes, it will create a nice “job security” for me and many other roofers, but I keep pretty busy cleaning up after those other roofers who’s 30 year roofs fail in 10 years, beyond repair. Many rubber roofs that we repalce are UNDER 3 years old – but this is mostly due to HORRIBLE installation. Here is a video I made to demonstrate crappy rubber roof installs:

To summarize, I believe that IB PVC roof is one of the best flat roofing materials on the market, and alternatives are not worth wasting time and money on them. And yes – it will work for Nathan, and probably be the best choice.

Staying neutral is not easy, especially when a track record has been established over years that for HIM is working, and apparently quite well. He should be as aggressive as he is, simply because it is working…for him. Not for EVERYONE.

Realize also, the experiences are based on weather, construction, codes, and myriad alternatives from across the continent about as far as you can go from you.

I have many more options available as a specifier than a typical contractor, because they cannot be approved by every manufacturer, and for many good reasons, wouldn’t want to be.

I am not going to presume to tell you the absolute best roof choice for your situation, because a thorough analysis hasn’t been done. Every Roof has alternatives, and sometimes more than one is equal in viability, but it is based on the individual condition, not the whim of a contractor.

I will “suggest” however, the integrity of the applicator is very important to the project, then the manufacturer, and then the material.

In my early career I was a multi-regional warranty administrator and technical services rep for a large multinational roofing company. The reality of warranties is a very strange situation indeed, because if there is a conflicting opinion of a valid claim, you as a small “buyer” of their materials have very little voice in the big picture.

I was given a budget every year, and had to live and die by that number. I was also told that larger, national level clients came first, then the small one-off projects, churches, condos, apartments, and home-owners. If you made a claim in September, usually there were no budget funds left, so I would have to hem and haw, stall, not answer my phone, or whatever because you couldn’t tell a client there was no money available. That’s a reality.

Consider as well, the asphalt roofing materials we know today have indeed gotten better. More quality control, better chemistry, better understanding of polymer asphalts, etc. AND, the system has 150- 160 years of experience. There are just as many bad jobs for each product type, it’s just not a statistic published for the consumer to know. However, asphalt is a proven product. Go back to my note about contractor’s being the most important part of the equation.
There are only three things that can cause a roof to fail. Bad Workmanship, Bad Materials, and Bad Design/Specifications. Who controls two of the three?
That’s right. AND, there is a decidedly skewed failure point by Contractors by far, vs. material failures, simply because the difference is working with the same manufacturing process, same chemistry, and quality controls vs. working outdoors trying to do brain surgery in a swamp.

For what I can tell about your comments, you would be satisfied with your choice, and do just as well on a small roof as another type. Regardless of other’s input after I make such bold statements that are sure to raise the ire of the “ONLY SINGLE PLY OR DIE” guys. Sorry fellas, you must be more open minded. There are other choices, but if you’re happy fine, just don’t presume to tell someone across the continent what materials he should use if you’re not working in that market.

Do you recall (probably not) the days when if you had a bug, the Doctors used penicillin for everything? Why? Because it was available. Now there are choices based on INDIVIDUAL circumstances, and NO PRODUCT is a panacea for every roof in America. If that was even close to the situation, don’t you think a lot of companies would go out of business and succumb to their stupidity because they didn’t choose to align themselves the same way?

Give it a rest. We know you have an agenda, and it is so grossly exploited it’s laughable. I know it works in Boston, but that does NOT mean it works in San Luis Obispo. OR California, or Alaska, or the Antarctic, or the rain forests of Brazil.

just saying…….

My recommendation would be PVC … it is the only flat roofing system that we install, and we made that choice because we know once we install it, it’s not going to leak, and we will never need to go back for repairs.

We of course could be installing TPO also, especially that we have all the equipment for it, and could better compete with othe roofer, offering a cheaper option … however, just the the thought warranty calls makes me shiver.

There is also rubber roofing, but with glued seams and flashing, for me it’s in the same league as TPO – not forth installing.

Good Luck

At the time this article was written, the report was not published. I wonder why it took 3 years to publish?

I will have to read the report to make my own conclusions though. If I find that information in this article is wrong, I will correct it. Time wise, I don’t know when I’ll have time for this …. TBA