Roof coatings 101

By Anna Lockhart.  

Looking to use roof coatings on your building’s roof or questioning if it’s time to replace your existing roof coatings? Roofing expert Bill Baley shares his expert advice.  

In a recent episode of the AskARoofer Podcast, hosts Lauren White and Megan Ellsworth sat down with Bill Baley from C.I. Services to discuss all things roof coatings and how to pick the right coating for your roofing project!  

Bill has provided coatings and re-roofing services for over three decades, and during that time, he has collected a great deal of experience and knowledge into the best uses for roof coatings. What are roof coatings, exactly? Bill explained, “People always want to call them different things, but really, it's just a paint, a monolithic membrane, basically. It's more advanced than paint. It has elastic components to it, which gives it its ability to stretch and move. And of course, they resist UV exposure.” 

He further shared that roof coatings are a great option for those looking for a protective material that is easy to maintain and replace over time. “The advantages are that you can take old roofs, or you can take previously coated roofs and restore them and keep them going. I think that's the part, for me in my business, that has been the best part, the renewability of it. You can take a roof and just extend its life. You can go from something that was expected to last 15 years and now you're moving into the 20, 25-year range, because you've kept it coated,” Bill explained. 

Not only do coatings provide building owners with the peace of mind of a long roof lifespan, but coatings are easily available while other roofing options may be harder to find or more costly. 

So, how do you know your building needs a new coating or a new roof? Bill shared, “Coating systems will start wearing away. The whole idea of recoating is to prevent that, right? So, when it starts reaching that condition, you want to recoat. In that case, a good power wash would clean all the chalking off and you get the roof prepped and put the next coating on.” 

In the case of re-roofing, he continued, “Does it look cracked? Does it look dried out? You take a core cut, is it brittle? In those cases, sometimes the roof is too far gone and a re-roof is needed, because coatings can't save everything. They can extend the life of something hanging on. But if you determine that roof is just really beat, it's time to replace it. But if not, if you're just seeing some surface cracking, if you're seeing some worn areas, some things that can be patched and repaired, that's a good candidate and that's telling you time to put a coating on.” 

Read the transcript or Listen to the podcast to learn more about roof coatings and C.I. Services.