commercial roofing spray foam
March 25, 2022

Spray Foam Roofing for a Built-Up Roof

If you’re a business owner and your roof starts leaking, it’s going to put you in a MISERABLE mood! If you have a built-up roof, double that sick feeling in the pit of your stomach. Once it starts to leak, you’re facing down a full-replacement — and built up roofs are notoriously time-consuming (and expensive) to tear off and rebuild. Don’t lose hope though! If you have a built-up roof, our spray foam roofing stops leaks and prevents leaks for up to 30 years — all while avoiding the hassle and expense of replacement!

Many business owners have heard of similar solutions and wonder “is foam roofing worth it?” While we can’t speak for ALL foam roof coating products, at J. Smucker Contracting, we offer a foam solution that adds up to 30 years onto the life of a built-up roof — backed by a warranty. Read our blog to get the details on how we use spray foam roofing, the many benefits of our system, and the risks of a second-rate spray foam roof coating product.

Learn more about the benefits of foam roofing.

J. Smucker Spray Foam Roofing Solution

The way most business owners or facility managers know their built-up roof is leaking? They see it. Whether that looks like water stains on your ceiling tiles or actual drips of water pooling on the floor, if you see a leak, you know. Pretty much, once it starts leaking you’re going to need to hunt those leaks on a yearly basis — and you’re probably not even going to keep up.

Conventional roofing wisdom says that if your built-up roof is leaking, it needs to be torn off 100% of the time. While other methods of built-up roof repair such as boardstock fail due to water infiltration, our Conklin spray foam solution works, guaranteed.

Here’s how we do it:

  1. We like to apply our system while the roof is still structurally sound before too much water has infiltrated and caused rot in the support structure. (So if your mod bit roof is leaking, don’t wait, contact us today.)
  2. We begin our process by vacuuming extra loose gravel off the roof to reduce weight.
  3. We apply a thick yet even coating of foam across the cracked and leaking roof surface. The foam is lightweight enough to be applied thickly across the already heavy roof, without risk of increasing the roof load.
  4. When the coating of foam is ready, we apply our waterproof coating across the new foam surface.
  5. When the roof coating solution is finished drying, the roof will be fully waterproof and will have a white reflective surface, which can lower energy bills in the summer.

Learn more about how this coating fixes the common problems of other types of commercial roofs.

spray foam roofing philadelphia

Spray foam roofing applied to an office roof by J. Smucker Contracting

Spray Foam Roofing Pros and Cons

When trying to decide whether or not foam roofing is worth it for your business, it helps to break the decision down into pros and cons.

Pros

  • Huge savings! A full spray foam roofing solution will cost you approximately half as much as tearing off and building a new roof. Generally, the bigger your roof, the bigger your savings.
  • Our solution is far less disruptive to business than a full roof-tear off and rebuild.
  • The J. Smucker Contracting spray foam roofing solution leaves you with a white roof that is more energy efficient than when it was new.

Cons

  • Like with anything, foam roofing is only effective if your roofing contractor is experienced and knows how to use it. Poorly applied foam roofing can fail in a matter of years.

Unfortunately, some business owners and facility managers actually have a negative impression of foam roofing because they saw the work of an inexperienced contractor. If the foam is applied too thin, over time it will blister and open up. In addition, if an insufficient type of waterproof coating is used on the foam, it can cause the foam to deteriorate and begin leaking again.

That is a risk when you work with some spray foam roofing contractors — not us.

At J. Smucker Contracting we have years of experience successfully applying foam roof coating products to commercial roofs throughout the East Coast. We are so confident in our spray foam, and our skill, that we offer up to a 30-year leak-free warranty

Experienced Spray Foam Roofing Contractors

We are a trusted roofer specializing in foam roofing and more traditional types of commercial roofing. As an award-winning roofing contractor, we bring expert solutions to our clients throughout Pennsylvania and beyond.

If you’d like to learn more about our roofing solutions, or would like to schedule your free roofing estimate, contact us today.