Commercial Rubber Roof Contractor In Boston, MA

Before we install any part of the Genflex EPDM roofing system, it's critical to remove the old roof. Never choose a commercial roofing contractor who wants to simply roll a new roof over your existing roof because this will simply compound your problems and make the project more expensive in the long run.

To start with a "fresh roof", we'll remove the existing roof down to the substrate. Generally, this means removing a few rubber boards but occasionally the removal process is much more labor-intensive. This occurs when a pervious flat roofer contractor did not strip the old roof down to the substrate.

Now that your old roof has been stripped down to the substraights, we have a blank slate to begin installing over. Any rotted materials will be completely removed and replaced so the new EPDM system has a strong foundation to sit on.

All removed materials will be transferred to a street-level dumpster. All dumpster delivery and removal is included in your rubber roofing estimate, and placement is flexible depending on your property's location and individual needs.

Depending on how your structure is built, we'll use one of two types of Polyiso boards, which is a solid foam board that will sit under the EPDM rubber roofing rolls. Each board is 4 feet by 8 feet in size and 2 inches in thickness.

The first type of EPDM polyiso board is tapered. These boards are 4x4 feet. If your building drains in the back, we'll used drip edge towards the back to give the proper pitch for sufficient drainage The slope will help allow water to move towards the drain and into the gutter. If your roof drains in the front or middle, we'll taper the polyiso boards that way.

The second type of EPDM polyiso board is flat, which is used in buildings that either want or need extra insulation in their roof to get up to Massachusetts code. Insulation code in Massachusetts is r30. In these cases, we can double-up the polyiso board if you need a good deal more. 

Special metal roof plates are screwed into the boards at a frequency of 5 plates per 4x8 piece of polyiso board. These are the Genflex manuafacturer specifications required to firmly hold the boards in place on your roof.

The EPDM rubber membrane must be rolled out the same way it's going to sit on the roof. And once rolled out across the roof, it's required to sit for a full 30 minutes before any bonding material is used. has to get rolled out the same way it is going to sit on the roof. needs to sit for at least 30 minutes before any sort of bonding is used.

We use the thickest grade of EPDM rubber roofing material available because it's the only flat roof material experts trust to stand up to the constant precipitation and temperature fluctuations experienced in New England.

Liquid bonding adhesive must be applied to the Polyiso boards section-by-section in order for the boards to stick to the building's surface and the EPDM material.

To adhere the material, we first paint the liquid adhesive on the surface of the Polyiso boards. Next, we paint the surface of the rubber EPDM. Finally, the boards with freshly applied adhesive are hand-rolled, which guarantees a completely flat surface.

Unlike many parts of the country, buildings in Massachusetts were constructed over a century ago. This is especially true with buildings in downtown Boston and Boston's neighborhoods like Newton, Brookline, and West Roxbury. Because of this, we need to be versatile in drip edge application. On many buildings, we can use a standard 3x3 EPDM drip edge, but sometimes need to custom-make a drip edge to fit older Massachusetts buildings.

Which drip edge we'll use is determined by the amount of insulation in the roof. If the structure has more insulation, we'll need a longer drip edge to cover the added height. If a normal height drip edge was used in the cases, the building would be susceptible to leaks because there wouldn't be enough drip edge to kick water away from the building. Whichever Boston flat roofing contractor you end up choosing, make sure they get this step right. Because if you don't, the building may not be up to code.

The majority of flat roofs aren't small enough to only use one roll of EPDM roof material. So because multiple rolls need to be used, there will be seams between each roll. We use Genflex's commercial-grade seam tape to protect these seams  and edges from water infiltration. And though it is called "tape," the rubber is actually much thicker than the EPDM material itself.

Top quality materials for this form of water protection are very important for flat roof replacement in Boston, Massachusetts and the surrounding areas.

We're not in Salem, MA but we do know a thing or two about witches hats.

In flat roofing, witches hats are product used to protect a building's pipes and our Boston roofing process is no different. They're constructed from the same heavy-duty EPDM-like material used for the cover and seam tapes.

The last labor-related step to replacing your rubber roof is the application of EPDM edge caulking. The caulking is spread liberally along all potentially-vulnerable areas. Where seam tape meets the rubber and anywhere two rubber seams meet will receive aa coating of EPDM edge caulking.