Adding 20+ years to a built-up roof without removing a single ply
81 Lansing - Roof
San Francisco
81 Lansing in San Francisco, built in the 1980s, had a roof that was the original mineral cap-sheet, built-up roof style. It was still in good shape but had undergone some patching over the years. The HOA was debating between a reroof and the application of a new silicone coating on the roof. When the option came up for a new silicone coating with a twenty-year warranty, it was an easy decision for the Board.
Not every roof is a good candidate for a roof coating. First of all, they have to be low slope. Second, the roof needs to be carefully inspected first, taking core samples and scanning with an infrared gun to make sure there isn’t trapped moisture. With the green light to coat with silicone, care must be taken to make sure all seams and projections are properly detailed and that, for the field of the roof, enough coating is applied to get the protection and life desired.
What We Did
Coated nearly 12,000 sf of roof.
Detailed 7000 running feet of roofing ply seams
Removed roof walk pads and replaced them with integral walkways using a silicone coating.
Project Details
After the roof was inspected by the Lucas Coatings technical representative and approved for coating, the first step was to wash the roof. Using a special cleaner / degreaser from Lucas Coatings, the surface was made ready for the primer.
A special bonding and mastic-blocking primer was applied to all surfaces to receive coating. An addition to aiding with the adhesion of the roof coating, this primer prevents the bleed through of the underlying mastic material through the new, white roof coating.
With the roof fully primed, we detailed all precautions and ply seams with a thick silicone stripe coat. This reinforcing step ensures that as these elements move, the new roof coating doesn’t get compromised by splits or tears.
With all seams and projections detailed, we applied the Lucas 8000 silicone roof coating. We went through a lot of material here; this coating needs to be applied thickly to make sure there is plenty of millage to resist the punishing UV rays and also to secure the 20-year warranty from the manufacturer.
The last step was to create a walkway so the maintenance staff could access the mechanical equipment on the roof. We applied a tack coat of the same Lucas 8000, this time in a contrasting gray. We broadcast granules into the tacky coating, let it cure, and then applied a second “lock” coating to finish it off.
With their choice to go with a silicone roof coating, the HOA not only experienced cooler temperatures in the summer but also bought themselves another 20 years of roof life.
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