Welcome again to another podcast here with advanced commercial systems, home with a roof nerves here at advanced commercial systems in good old commercial roofing broken arrow. We endeavored Esther and strive to do the best that we can to show you, um, our, our accountability and roofing, the many different ways that we set up procedures, procedures, and processes in commercial roofing so that our clients know that they’re getting the best possible work that they can. And so today our topic is single ply roofing. We got a question in, um, you know, we have a lot of questions oftentimes about TPO because it’s one of the most popular types of roofing products on the market today for the flat roofs. And so what we want to talk about actually is single ply roofing. What is a single ply roofing and why is it called single ply roofing?
And so first off, uh, here in commercial roofing broken out, let me talk about that. There’s [inaudible], there is a single ply and then there’s a mold to multiply, uh, types of roofing, like a modified bitumen and built up. Those are multiply in which there’s often different plies laid and in which the final upper waterproofing membrane is finally put on well in single ply roofing. Basically the waterproofing final membrane that’s put on is a very thin, it’s a single membrane that is either put on by gluing it down, which we called fully adhering or adhering or it’s also put down by screws. And the third ways is by what’s called a ballast system. I’m a balanced system is like gravel or paving stones, something like that. [inaudible] sitting on the roofing membrane to hold it down here in a commercial roofing broken arrow. Uh, we at advanced commercial systems endeavor to really show you, um, the, the different aspects of commercial roofing contractors in the Greater Tulsa area and really what we offer above and beyond the normal commercial roofing companies.
And so roofing companies and roofing contractors that do different types of roofing repair, um, you know, roof replacement cost, those kinds of things often fall in line with that of the metal roof or the metal roof cost. And so here at advanced commercial systems we can put single ply roofing like a TPO or PVC, we can put that over metal roofing. And so that is a part of a roof replacing roof reroofing process that we can do as well. But let’s talk specifically now about single ply membranes. Um, so there is two types. They’re categorized in either that of a thermo set or a thermoplastic a thermoplastic. Often you hear the words for thermo plastic is a material that can be heated and reheated and then cool down. So you can do multiple applying all you multiple times that you can install or repair the product.
So you can heat a scene for a TPO or PVC as you’re installing it in the beginning. If you find that there’s a problem in the future, you can come back out and you can probe it and you can actually read heat the same seam, um, because uh, it’s commonly referred to by their chemical acronyms. Now that chemical acronym for a, one of the, one of the single ply roofing for the propylene dying to her polymer is EPD em. So it just says a whole lot easier to say [inaudible] than it is ethanol, ethylene propylene dying her polymer. And so everyone says APD PDM and everyone knows what they’re talking about. So as far as it’s concern here in commercial roofing, broken Arrow, TPO is installed so many more times than EPD m single a apply membranes oftentimes have under it a scrim or we call reinforcement layers of those reinforcement layers or many times made of a very hard fabric.
Um, glass fiber, our fleece backing or the fabrics of the polyester fabrics that are interwoven to create a lot of strength. You can’t tear it with your hand, although it might be just 60 mil. It’s a really strong product when you put it together that way. Now there are, there are single ply membranes that did not have that and we actually were asked to install one about a year ago. We did a Walgreens here in town because they were looking for inexpensive route. And so we went the route of giving them a 45 mil TPO. It’s a great product, but it just doesn’t have the scrim or the reinforcement layer underneath it, but it’s still a great product, has done a great job and it would be up there for 15 years and do its job the way that it should. So, uh, so once again, um, now TPOs in these single applies, uh, which EPD and all of them, they’re referred to many times by their thicknesses.
So like 60 meal, 90 meal, 80 meal, um, 45 meal, 30 Mil, 50 mill. There’s a lot of times different manufacturers can have some variances and thicknesses and so the variants in thickness is referred, referred to in a meal. An M I l one meal is one thousands of an inch. So if you have 100 meal, you have one 10th of an inch. And so you can see how that works. Um, you know, as far as the thicknesses are concerned for these different types of single ply membrane, single ply membranes, you can adhere them, you can mechanically attach them or you can hold them down with a ballasted system, balanced it systems. I don’t see too many of those. I have worked on quite a few of them. Um, were not always very, I don’t like them because everyone that walks on that roof is just grinding that ballast into that single ply membrane.
If you could put it up there and uh, and have no one go up there ever except for the roof or that installed it, uh, I’d have a different, I’d have a different perception about it. And then also the Ballston system, you know, ballast and systems can be mood with high wind. It can be moved around and so it need repair. And then also when there is repair that’s needed, finding the leak with a balance of system is absolutely insane. You might have to remove because of how elite could be 20 feet away from where it’s coming into the building. You may literally, in the commercial roofing broken Arrow, you may literally have to remove, um, a lot of the ballast system just to be able to probe and find that the leak is not even where you’re looking. So it can be very aggravating.
I’m trying to find a leak with a, with a ballast system. I’ve been there and done that before. Uh, with a paid system. We were dealing with some crazy crazy leaks and we’re having a hard time trying to find them. So, but we finally got him found and got him stopped over at a bank right here on 71st street. Now there are times, and we use a combination of attachment methods to secure a roof down, you know, a roofing system. I’m like almost that the majority of the time when we do a mechanical, he fashioned a roofing system where we screw it down with plates and screws for a single ply. Many times if there’s a pair of pit wall, we, we adhere the parapet wall. So there’s just one example of Ed hearing down. There are times that you can do a mechanically fastened, but you want to have the, the five or 10 foot a surrounding area glued down because the adhered or glued down membrane, it adheres and it, it holds a lot better.
It can handle the wind better. Um, it’s a much better system overall and what you’re doing there. So here in commercial roofing, broken Arrow, single ply roofing systems. Um, they are really, a lot of them are mechanically attached and I’m seeing more and more where can contractors, commercial roofing contractors are moving over to using more of an inherent system. Uh, just because I wish they would come get the price, they can get the pricing of the glue to come down. Some they have some real low low rise foam that we have to spray spray in lines and you just spray it in four inch lines or 12 inch slides, you know, the space between, uh, I wish that can really work on getting the price of some of those products for the adhering down. That would help us be able to, you know, be able to do more for our clients sometimes.
Um, so like I say, there are in some instances there’s a combination of attachment methods that are used for securing the roof and at the same time we were also can install insulation below that single ply system. And so that can be a mechanically attached to or the installation can also be full laid here. And so we can fully adhere the installation, then we can turn right around and fully adhere the roofing single platinum. Yeah. And as well. And so these are just some of the aspects of single ply roofing systems and we are coming to the wrapping up, uh, end of our today, another uh, podcast here where the vast commercial systems, where we say it’s not rocket science, it’s roof science. So here our roof nerves here in commercial roofing, broken Arab, they are Spec Nicholas especially trained in technically skilled to help you and advise you on commercial roofing.
Now this is what we do when we come out and we sit down with you and we talk with you about your roof, about what’s going on. You may have leaking it just, you know, it’s 18, 22 years old, you know, it’s time to replace it soon you need some budgeting, you want to find out what to do. We literally come out and do a free evaluation for you with a video with pictures or diagram of your roof. And then we sit down with you. We tell you everything about the roof system. You have, and then we begin to share with you the multiple different versions of what we can do, whether it’s just repairing for five more years, setting up a maintenance plan to try to get the most life we can out of it while you’re building money up to do, do a recoup, recovering or re re roofing or just do a full roof replacement. We sit down and share all that information with you so that you can become knowledgeable so that you can make the best decisions for you and your company. If you need us at all, please give us a call. You can reach us at (918) 973-1010 once again, it’s not rocket science, it’s roof science and stay dry.
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