best way to recover a roof

theoldwizard1 wrote:
First, I commend you for "doing the right thing", a complete re-roof ! It is the only way to know if there is damage to the roof deck and/or the supports. Any flexible roof covering has a life of about 10 years. UV (sunlight) is the enemy. Biannual washing and treatment with a UV protecting will help extend the life.

EPDM or TPO are the only realistic options. TPO comes in different grades/thicknesses. TPO does require some special tools to weld the TPO.

Washing, scrubbing, painting and such does not "extend" the life of a membrane roof. It can actually reduce the overall live by removing the wear (white) layer at a faster rate. Any soap or detergent strong enough to remove dirt will remove layers of the white wear layer, heck even the rain and snow remove microscopic particles of the wear layer.

Painting the roof only covers and hides the fact that the roofs life is over..

Many "products" that claim to rejuvenate or prevent UV exposure must be water based to prevent damage to the membrane, guess what happens when the very first rain hits that product.. It runs right off and you must apply again when dry.

Once the white wear layer is gone, the roof simply needs replaced anything short of replacement is a temporary bandaid that you must keep reapplying.

Have owned cars with vinyl roofs and I know quite few folks who have convertible top roof cars and replacing the soft roofs is part of the life of ownership of those cars. Once it starts going, it is done and nothing short of replacing will fix that.