EPDM Roofing

Strengths

• Decades of documented field performance rather than projections
• Elasticity, so it tolerates building movement and thermal cycling without splitting
• Simple repairs that need no welding equipment
• Good hail resilience, which matters here

The Trade-Off

Standard EPDM is black, and a black membrane in a DFW summer runs dramatically hotter than a white one. That raises cooling load and the temperature of the whole assembly. White EPDM exists, costs more, and does not carry the same decades of field record.

On an air conditioned building where cooling cost matters, that argues for TPO. On an unconditioned warehouse, or a building with heavy movement, EPDM's durability may matter more. It is building specific.

How It Fails

• Seam adhesive aging, since EPDM seams are adhered rather than welded
• Shrinkage on older ballasted systems, pulling at terminations
• Punctures on roofs with traffic and no walkway pads
• Detail work, as with every low slope system

What A Core Cut Tells You On EPDM

EPDM shrinks as it ages, and the shrinkage pulls at the corners and the base flashings, which is where the water gets in. Before we price anything we cut cores to see whether the insulation below has stayed dry. Dry board means we detail the perimeter and the roof keeps going. Wet board means the assembly comes out, no matter how sound the rubber still looks.

Hail On A Single Ply Roof

Damaging hail reaches some part of the Metroplex in most years, and a commercial roof takes it differently than a house does. Membrane over a soft or wet insulation board bruises and can fracture, while the same membrane over a rigid cover board often survives the same storm. So the board under the sheet is doing more of the work than most owners realize.

After a storm we look at the soft metals first. Dented coping, condenser fins, gutter faces and gooseneck vents establish stone size on your property before anyone argues about the membrane. Then we walk the field in a grid and mark strikes, and we cut cores in the areas with the most impacts, because a fractured membrane over saturated insulation is a different conversation from a bruise over dry board. All of it goes to your carrier with roof plan locations attached.