Here is a fun project… We were asked to re-roof a famous surf-side Inn in the touristy, village of San Clemente, CA – the former home of President Richard Nixon’s Summer White House. This multi-story Inn facing the San Clemente Pier that juts out into the Pacific Ocean had water dripping through the ceilings of the upstairs rooms and suites for years. Roof repairs would not hold up! What was the problem here?
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Why would multiple attempts to repair the older roof not hold up?
The problem, unfortunately, is all too common and is found all across the country. These older, under-pitched roofs are nothing more than poor design. There is quite an inventory of buildings with reoccurring ponding & pooling problems just like this one. Fortunately, the National Uniform Building Code now addresses low-slope roof design: establishing higher-pitched minimum slopes, more conservative minimum roof loading, etc..
The SOLUTION for such problem roofs in general; and specifically the Inn’s roof here at the beach? These, too-flat roofs must be re-pitched: steeper to help water move, and stouter to resist future gravity sags.
This roof was one of those roofs that was not correctly designed: not sloped enough to resist time, weight and gravity. The roof slope was virtually non-existent as a new building and now – years later – is more of a water collector than a water deflector.
This condition is more commonly found on large office and industrial buildings where there is a lot of roof-mounted equipment. Gravity combined with the weight of the roofing materials, exacerbated by the weight of roof-mounded heating and air conditioning, will create water-collecting roof “SAGS.” Water that used to run off now “POOLS” in areas here and there. The best, newest roof system will fail when constantly under water.
After the Inn roof was framed – - – re-pitched – - – and the plywood roof deck completed, we had to use some plastic to dodge some rain storms. Here is a beautiful February sunset…
Most of the Cool Roof’s we will post in this section are Cool Roof RESTORATIONS. Restoration is taking a conventional roof that is failing, repairing the failing roof and then applying a bright, white, reflective, liquid-applied, seamless elastomeric coating. The coating adds water-resistance but it’s chief purpose is to “encapsulate” the now-repaired roof, to keep the roof protected from the sun and the elements.
Here, we are building what we loosely-call a Cool Roof – but it is more technically-appropriate to call it what it is. It is a Single-Ply Roof System that happens to be built on-site: built with scrim reinforcing fabrics “laid-up” in wet layers of liquid-applied, 100% acrylic, elastomeric, rubber. Fiberglass boats, airplanes and surfboards are constructed very much the same way…
A liquid-applied, scrim-reinforced, Single-Ply Roof System such as this can become a Life-Long, Sustainable, GREEN Roof. Never will it need to be “removed” and hauled to the landfill. Every decade or so it needs a “maintenance” coating to build-up that which the elements and oxidation have depleted.
Using 4,000 p.s.i., high pressure equipment, we spray an initial application of elastomeric Cool Roof coating directly onto the plywood. This Single-Ply, Cool Roof System is so well-adhered that it will transmit any deficiencies in the plywood deck – so it is absolutely necessary to build the deck with the utmost craftsmanship.
As careful as we might be, we still need to even-out the plywood seams, fill knot holes, and generally make the underlying roof-deck as smooth as possible.
After spraying a predetermined section, and rolling out a course of specially-woven, polyester scrim fabric, we then immediately “back-roll” the fabric-covered area to make certain that the fabric is “wetted-out” and fully-suspended in the elastomeric coating.
During wintertime we often add a black or blue pigment into the normally Bright-White Cool Roof coating to (a) increase the coatings’ heat-absorption and drying time when overcast (b) save our eyes from intense reflected sunlight – even in winter months, and (c) it helps us see where the edge and overlap of the new coating is when applying the final Bright White Coating.
In the picture (below) its a bit hard to see but ALL of the roof is reinforced with polyester fabric though the seams of the plywood seem darker. They are. The seams needed to be smoothed – like mudding and taping drywall. The smoother the roof – the faster rain water will be shed.
We have a Round Section of roof that would be difficult for many roof systems – but not a spray-in-place, liquid-applied system. In the mean time we have to make it water tight for the storm due in tonight…
The weather got really cold and wet. Yes… It does occasionally rain in California. Hard to see the surfers in the distance but they are out there — 365-days a year. Our coating wasn’t drying as quickly as we’d like, so we pigmented the coating a bit darker as we continue to build-up what will be considered a “Single-Ply Roofing System.”
We sometimes “thin-down” some coating with acrylic extenders to make a more-penetrating version which creates for us a useful primer. We pigment it darker yet so that it will dry very rapidly – usually a couple of hours. We only need this special mix for the coldest days or special circumstances.
We started this Inn project the last few days of February and now it is March. We sometimes get a couple of March rains. This March we are getting pretty wet… The roof, even at this stage, is completely waterproof. It is just not fully-completed – not ready for our hot, sun-intense summers.
What great views we’ve had. Watching the storms come ashore. Huge surf. Some brave surfers tackling the storm-enhanced waves. Wearing sweaters and jackets on a roof project is just not something we are used to.
What a difference a day makes! Shirt-sleeve weather.
What’s that AXIOM? A good foundation…
Though we have a couple of days remaining as we apply the final Bright White Coatings – the upshot of posting this project is to make a case for the all critical, all important, detailed steps leading up to this day. The quality of a new technology roof is 90% in the preparation: the foundation. So few folks will ever invest the time and energy. We often are called to quote redoing a not-so-old Elastomeric Roof where a care-less “Spray and Run” crew has taken advantage of the building owner…
(Below) The application of Bright White, Cool Roof Coating is simply “Icing on the Cake.” Taking photos of a finished Cool Roof – is like taking pictures of a glass mirror at high noon in August: the camera and our eyes – are often overwhelmed. So, we are going to call this our FINAL Photo.
On this San Clemente, CA project we corrected roof pooling and roof ponding problems; we re-pitched the roof slope and we installed a Bright White, 100% Acrylic, Liquid-Applied, Cool Roof Coating.
