When a commercial roof begins showing its age, replacement isn’t always the only option. Many low-slope roofing systems can continue protecting a building for years with the right restoration solution.

During a recent project in Pittsburg, Kansas, the Ridgeline Roofing team installed a Polyglass 95.1 Silicone Spray Coating on an aging modified bitumen roof. Although the morning began with heavy dew that delayed application, proper surface preparation allowed the team to complete the project and restore the roof with a seamless waterproof membrane.

Why Surface Preparation Is So Important

Silicone coatings perform exceptionally well, but only when they are installed under the right conditions.

On this project, the roof was covered with a thick layer of morning dew. Rather than rushing the application, our crew spent several hours allowing the roof to dry before spraying the silicone coating.

Moisture trapped beneath any roofing product can affect adhesion and long-term performance. Taking the time to properly prepare the roof helps ensure the coating bonds correctly and delivers the protection the manufacturer intends.

Professional installation is about more than applying the product. It’s about preparing the roof correctly from the very beginning.

Understanding Modified Bitumen Roofs

This building featured an older modified bitumen roofing system, a common choice for commercial buildings constructed or reroofed 15 to 20 years ago.

Modified bitumen roofs are built with multiple layers that provide excellent waterproofing, durability, and flexibility. Over time, however, constant exposure to sunlight, weather, and temperature changes causes the surface granules to wear away, leaving the roof more vulnerable to UV damage and water intrusion.

When the roof is still structurally sound, a silicone restoration system can often extend its service life without the expense of a complete replacement.

Creating a Seamless Waterproof Roof

One of the biggest advantages of silicone is its ability to eliminate vulnerable seams.

After application, the coating forms a continuous waterproof membrane across the roof surface, covering:

• Roof seams
• Pipe flashings
• Box vents
• Roof penetrations
• Transition areas
• Repair locations

On this project, several older flashing details had been repaired over the years using roofing tar and incompatible flashing components. Rather than replacing every penetration, the silicone coating fully encapsulated these areas, creating a durable waterproof seal while integrating them into the overall roofing system.

The result is a cleaner, stronger, and more uniform roof surface.

Strengthening Roof Edges

Roof edges often experience more movement and weather exposure than other parts of a commercial roofing system.

During the inspection, we found sections of the drip edge that had loosened over time. Before applying the silicone coating, our crew refastened the edge metal to improve stability and reduce future movement.

Small improvements like these help maximize the life of both the existing roof and the new coating system.

Restoring Older Roof Details

Many older commercial roofs contain repairs and modifications completed over decades of service.

This roof included:

• Multiple flashing types
• Previous tar repairs
• Older parapet wall repairs
• Various roof penetrations

Instead of simply coating over problem areas, each location was evaluated and prepared before the silicone application. Proper preparation ensures the finished roof performs as a single waterproof system instead of a collection of separate repairs.

Why Property Owners Choose Silicone Roof Coatings

For qualifying roofs, Polyglass silicone coatings offer significant long-term value, including:

• Seamless waterproof protection
• Excellent resistance to ponding water
• A 50-year material warranty from the manufacturer
• A 10-year manufacturer-backed material and labor warranty (when installed according to manufacturer specifications)
• A 20-year Ridgeline workmanship warranty
• Potential cooling-cost reductions during hot summer months
• Minimal disruption during installation
• A cost that is typically far less than a complete roof replacement

For many commercial buildings, roof restoration provides an excellent balance of performance, longevity, and value.

Could Your Roof Be Restored Instead of Replaced?

Not every aging roof needs to be torn off. If your modified bitumen, TPO, EPDM, PVC, or metal roof is still structurally sound, a professional inspection may reveal that a silicone restoration system is the smarter investment.

Does your roof qualify for silicone? Let’s find out.

Contact us today or get your FREE INSTANT ROOF QUOTE now to schedule a professional roof inspection and learn whether roof restoration is the right solution for your building.

Hear Tim’s Thoughts

Video Transcript: "Hey Tim Yates, Ridgeline Roofing and Solar. I'm with Dave today. We're spraying silicone.

This is a old modified roof. It's got a wood deck on it and it's got a, oh these are pretty standard.
It's about a 130 mil granulated cap sheet. It's about the standard 15-20 years ago that they,
the common cap sheet that they used. And the silicone, you can see the difference silicone
is making in it. And this stuff is not going to come off. And makes the roof seamless. You can kind of see some darker spots, but they're not, they are, it's just the way the sun's hitting it. The seams are completely covered.

See the seam? So it makes the whole thing seamless.

You can do get a little bit of shade on. These are, somebody did some residential pipe flashes on there.

We buried them in silicone. They're good. Box vent up there, now buried in silicone. It's good.
And this was a strange one. This was a, for metal roofing, the protrusion flashing for metal roofing. And it's, uh, wasn't coming off because it was tarred on. And so it's now buried in silicone. And then we went ahead and refastened, refastened this whole edge down here. And this is some, something you see a lot of, uh, going bad is through the edging on these roofs. Or this, this drip edge is just an L-shaped drip edge. And it's, it's not very big. They actually should have brought this out, uh, about another two inches here.

And that would have went over the drip edge and, and, uh, it wouldn't be fighting to stay on.
So we refastened all that. It's got a parapet, uh, concrete parapet that's had a ton of tar put on it
over the years. Uh, we've been dealing with that and, uh, yeah, it's a pretty day for it. If you have any questions about your roof residential or commercial please give us a call thank you."