What roof sealing involves
The right sealant for the substrate and exposure, applied where a mechanical detail cannot do the job alone.
Sealant is a supplement to flashing, never a substitute for it.
What matters on roof sealing
Coating extends, it does not rescue
A coating over a sound, dry low-slope roof buys real years. The same coating over a roof with wet insulation underneath seals the water in and hides a problem that keeps growing.
Thickness is the specification
Coatings are specified by applied thickness, not by number of coats. Spread thin to cover more square footage, the product will not perform to anything like its stated life.
Roof Sealing on real jobs
How the system goes together
Fasteners rust from the inside out
Screws and nails on a roof within reach of the lake air corrode faster than the same hardware would inland. A plain steel nail head disappears under a shingle and takes years off the roof’s hold without a single visible symptom. Hot-dipped galvanized or stainless where the metal is exposed is a small line item that decides whether the roof reaches its rated life.
Mixed metals make it worse
Aluminum flashing pinned with the wrong screw sets up a reaction that eats the softer metal at every contact point.
We look at the old nails
What came out of the last roof tells you what to put in the new one.
Ridge vent against box vents
A continuous ridge slot pulls air along the entire peak, which is why it outperforms a row of box vents on most houses. Box vents still win in specific situations: a hip roof with almost no ridge to cut, a roof broken into separate attic spaces that do not share air, or a low ridge where a slot would sit under drifted snow all winter.
Never mix the two on one attic
Put both on the same space and the ridge pulls its air from the nearest box vent instead of from the soffit. The attic barely moves and the roof looks correctly vented from the driveway.
What we check
- Field condition and granule loss
- Valleys, ridges and every transition
- Penetrations and their flashing
- Gutter and fascia condition
How we approach it
Look first
We get on the roof and read what is actually happening before quoting anything.
Say what we find
Photographs and a plain explanation, including when the answer is that you do not need us yet.
Built in sequence
Crews we hire and run, working the right detail in the right order.
Leave it clean
Magnet over the yard, container gone, walked with you.
Freeze and thaw works on everything
A February day here can swing forty degrees between sunrise and mid afternoon. Water gets into a nail hole, a lap, a crack in the flashing sealant. It freezes overnight and expands. It thaws and goes deeper. Multiply that by a hundred cycles a winter and small openings become real ones. It is slow, and it is the reason a roof that was fine three winters ago is leaking now.
Sealant is a maintenance item
Anything relying on caulk has a clock on it. Flashings that rely on metal geometry instead of sealant last a great deal longer.
Wind, water and dust, in that order
Ask what actually kills roofs in this part of the state and the answer runs wind first, then water that could not get away, then the grit that the wind delivered. Each one makes the next worse. A wind-broken seal lets water in. Water carries grit into a lap. Grit holds moisture against the mat. None of it is dramatic and all of it compounds.
Why we start at the edges
Perimeters and penetrations are where all three arrive together, so that is where an honest look begins.
What this looks like on a real roof
There is a version of roof sealing that gets sold off a clipboard in the driveway and a version that comes off actually reading the roof. The second one costs the same and lasts.
What follows is the part most people never get told: what usually went wrong before we arrived, and what the job looks like when it is done in the right order.
Where roofs go wrong
The shortcut we see most
Coating spread thin to cover more square footage. The stated service life assumes a specified thickness, and spread thin it will not come close.
What good looks like instead
Substrate prepared, seams reinforced, product applied at the specified rate and checked as it goes on.
Signs worth a look
- Coating chalking or wearing thin at traffic paths
- Seams telegraphing through the coating
- Ponding where the coating has discoloured
- Blisters forming under the surface
What to expect
When coating is the right answer
On a low-slope roof that is sound, dry and draining, a coating adds real service life for a fraction of a replacement. Those three conditions are not optional.
Surface preparation
Most coating failures are preparation failures. The surface has to be clean and dry, seams reinforced, and any ponding addressed before product goes down.
What it will not do
A coating will not dry out wet insulation, correct a drainage problem or bridge a failing seam on its own. If those are present we say so rather than coat over them.
Related work
Coatings covers more than one job, and they are not interchangeable. These are the others in the same family, each on its own page.
Questions we get asked
Not the question you had? Call the shop and ask a person. We would rather talk it through than have you guess from a website.
(801) 382-8898Will a coating fix my leaking flat roof?
Only if the roof is sound and dry underneath. A coating extends a good roof. It seals a wet one in.
How long does a roof coating last?
It depends on the product, the thickness applied and the exposure. Applied at the specified thickness over prepared substrate, it buys real years.
What happens if you find bad decking?
We show you. The decking is only visible during a tear-off, so that is when soft sheathing gets found and replaced. We photograph it rather than just add it to a list.
What makes a Utah roof different?
Snow load, ice at the eaves, canyon wind and high-altitude sun, all on the same roof. A crew that learned roofing somewhere mild has to learn it again up here.
Will you tell me if I do not need a new roof?
Yes. Plenty of what we look at turns out to be a repair, and we say so. A roof with years left in it gets left alone, and you get the photographs either way.
Do you handle the insurance side?
On hail-damaged roofs, we work with your insurance to get the roof covered. We document the damage thoroughly with photographs, so the claim reflects what is actually on the roof.
Ask about roof sealing
Call (801) 382-8898 or send a note. We will look at the roof and tell you straight what it needs.