I started learning about spray polyurethane foam roofs about 4 months ago. Before working at a roofing company, I thought every commercial building only used rubber roofs. I thought foam was used for interior insulation, nothing more.
But I’m just a marketer. The closest thing to roofing I’ve ever been a part of is cleaning the gutters before Winter.
But after being involved in sales meetings, interviewing salespeople and reading the hundreds of blogs the marketer before me wrote, talking about spray foam roofing is almost second nature to me.
If you’re just starting to look at roofing systems for your building and not sure which option is good or bad, don’t get discouraged. You don’t need to go building to building asking everyone how they like their roof and what’s the best system out there. You can learn about all the possible roofing solutions online – and this short post can be one of your bookmarkable resources.
Listed below are 4 cost-effective insights I learned about spray foam roofing from interacting with the sales guys, some of whom have 30+ years of spray foam roofing experience.
Let’s get started:
4 Insights into Why Spray Foam Roofing Is a Cost-Effective Option
1) Spray foam requires little to no tear off
The less tear off that goes into your roofing project, the more cost-effective it’ll be. Tear off is expensive because:
- It’s labor intensive
- You must pay to transport the tear off
- You must pay for dumpster or landfill costs
Spray foam roofs eliminate the need of extensive tear off because they can go over most existing roofing systems. The only areas that need torn off are wet areas, which are identified at the beginning of a roofing project with an infrared survey.
NOTE: a general rule is if the roof is more than 25% saturated from the results of the infrared survey, it’s best to completely tear off the roof and start from scratch.
2) Spray foam gets laid down fast
The popular phrase, time is money, is nothing but the truth. The more labor hours that’re included in your roofing quote, the less cost-effective it’ll be. Here is why spray foam gets laid down quicker than traditional roofing systems:
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- Spray foam gets sprayed on. With roofing penetrations such as curbs, a conventional roofing solution might take 30 minutes to flash around a curb. Spray foam can get sprayed around the same curb in 2 minutes.
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- Spray foam uses less material. Get the hose up there and start spraying! Other roofing systems need sheet guns, heat welders, fasteners and many other roofing tools and materials.
3) Spray foam requires less labor
A spray foam roofing contractor aims to spray 2500-3500 square feet of finished spray foam per day. Usually that’s a team with 4-5 people on it.
Compared to a traditional roofing system, which needs materials constantly brought to them (like rolls of rubber), the same 2500-3500 square footage would probably need to be done by a team with 6-8 people on it.
Spray foam is just easier to install than other roofing systems. How?
SPF roofs are installed by spraying a liquid on the existing roof and allowing it to expand into a foam. This process means the foam can conform to all roof shapes and types, even irregularly shaped roofs. After cleaning the existing roof, the SPF roof can be applied directly over asphalt, shingles, concrete, metal, and wood.
With spray foam being easy to install and it can conform to all shapes, it’s very easy to see why spray foam requires less labor.
4) Spray foam is easy to maintain
Anybody with a tube of caulk and a pocketknife can fix a spray foam roof. How is this done?
- Grab a knife and cut out the defective area
- Make sure the damaged area is clean and dry
- Apply caulk/sealant into the hole and smooth out with a putty knife
If you’re going to fix a slice in a rubber roof, such as EPDM or TPO, you’ll need multiple tools such as a heat welder, patch material, glues and adhesive primers, etc.
Spray foam roofs are cost-effective options
I leave you with one last statement about cost effectiveness and roofing solutions. It’s very important to look at the performance of your roof over its lifetime and its R value.
Someone could come in and do a cheap rubber roof, but if you’re not getting any extra value, as in energy savings, then you’re not comparing apples to apples.
Want to learn more about spray polyurethane roofs? Our free downloadable eBook includes information such as:
- How much does a spray foam roof cost?
- How is a spray foam roof installed start to finish?
- And much more…
