A TPO roof and Ponding Water

This TPO roof actually disintegrated in ponding water. The UV stabilizers gone, weathering package (layer) gone, the polypropylene/EP rubber gone, all that was left was the polyester reinforcement. The water was sitting on top of the insulation board and started leaking in the building causing extensive damage. Watch this 37 second video.

http://youtu.be/ePkSoMT3QBM

Firestone had/has one under the RhoFlex name.

Tpo mod. Bit? Who is the manufacturer? Never heard of it. I've seen ice and water that has a tpo coating on it, I think GAF? I've also done fleece back tpo that we hotted down.

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Kunk35 Said: Is this brand specific? There are hundreds of thousands of squares of TPO sold every year. If the typical TPO roof breaks down that quickly, wouldnt there be lawsuits left and right?

Kory

Put the first one on in 1988. Good year. Did a few more through the early 90's. Saw one go 15 years with A LOT of help.

Genflex, Stevens, Carlisle... all same story. Have not put on much Firestone, but do have one on a walmart from the early 2000's. Don't know what it's like. After 2 years we don't get called for walmart repairs. Have done some Manville more recently.

Will not put on anything under 60 mil, and even then, only if it was spec'd or requested in writing by the owner or their rep.

TPO polymer in and of itself is nice stuff. It's what they do to make it a roofing product priced low enough for the commodity market that gets it in trouble.

These threads about these problems are elsewhere n the web too.

Here' my response elsewhere.

"M. Hicks has been saying this since I first joined RCS years ago. Doing commercial work, he got pulled in by the system. He thought his jobs were going well, but it seems Carlisle, and whoever else, when getting a warranty call, would call the nearest roofer, not the installed. Many installers have been completely unaware their roofs were going fine because the call backs did not route back to them. I believe he got the chance to check on an eight year old roof of his and found it had already been patched to death and was failing badly. If you, the installer don't get this feedback yourself, you blissfully wander along selling and installing more junk roofs.

(It's been many years since I first read his earlier observations, so I'm sure some of the irrelevant details are incorrect. Such as how he found out, etc. The warranty and failure info is pretty much correct."

Is this brand specific? There are hundreds of thousands of squares of TPO sold every year. If the typical TPO roof breaks down that quickly, wouldn't there be lawsuits left and right?

Kory

theroofmedic Said: ... Never seen TPO deteriorate like that.

That's only because you're new here. I've been posting pictures like that on this site for 10 years. In the 26 years since our first TPO install, only a very few have made it past 10 years. Granted those were all 45 mil, but even with 60 mil, I feel confident saying that you can count on the water running in right after the warranty runs out.

I recently inspected a 1000 square and a 600 square tpo roofs that were in that condition.

Interesting scope and claim- The interior damage was a covered peril but the roof wasn't covered. Never seen TPO deteriorate like that.