Can you Identify what type of roof this is?

[SFLman]

I recently got an estimate on replacing the 20 year old roof on this house. It was $37K. There's not need to replace the rood any time soon, but I'm starting to check options.

I've started noticing the different styles of roofs here in South Florida. It looks like this roof was some sort of liquid when applied. Can anyone tell me what type of roof this is?





I noticed that the material is not appear to be even on the ridges, whatever it is.



I don't know what the hump is mid way up the roof on the left side of this photo, but there's no seams, so I'm guessing this is some sort of hardened roof cover which was liquid when applied.

 

[oldognewtrick]

Hard to tell from my smartness phone. At this point, what options are you looking at for replacement?

 

[SFLman]

Sorry for the confusion. This is the roof on the house I live in. It is traditional asphalt shingles. The roof is 20 years old, and I'm just checking out some options.





There's a house not far from mine which has a material on the roof which I can't identify.




As you can see, there are no ridge caps. In the last hurricane, the wind got underneath some of our shingles and peeled them up. I see nothing on this roof that the wind could catch, so I'm interested in learning more.

 

[oldognewtrick]

There's is and was a lot of roof coating systems over the years. Some worked well, some not. If it were my house, I'd look at a dimensional shingle with a high wind lift rating. GAF and Certainteed offer shingles with ratings over 100 mph. With wind at that level, there's usually structural damage that's a bigger issue. Nail placement and proper amount of fasteners are crucial to shingle performance.

 

[joecaption]

$37,000 for that small a house!
Guessing he really did not want the job, time to get some more prices in writing.
Tried asking the home owner what it is?

 

[Sparky617]

For $37 large on a house that size you ought to be able to get terracotta tiles. That roof looks to be a membrane roof and would probably stand up pretty well in a hurricane, but they are usually used on flat roofs where you don't see the roof. When it comes time to replace your asphalt shingles I'd upgrade to an architectural grade shingle with a 30-35 year warranty. Otherwise, terracotta or concrete tiles. Not sure how much standing seam metal roofs you have there. They become pretty dangerous if the fasteners let loose in a hurricane and you get flying sheet metal. They also make metal shingles. Not sure how well they handle hail damage though.

 

[68bucks]

Looks like a rubber roof to me. A fully adhered rubber roof would hold up well in strong winds. I had several fully adhered roofs applied to industrial buildings. As mentioned they are usually use for flat roofs. BTW it is not a very attractive look, IMO. There are some liquid products for roofs that will cure to a flexible rubber surface. The ones I have seen were white though there may be different colors. They use them a lot on mobile homes, RV's and the like.

 

[MrMiz]

I hate the concrete tiles on my roof. They break constantly. If I have to go up there to get a Frisbee or a dead bird or what ever, it is literally like walking on egg shells. I have a whole pallet of them left from the previous owner for repairs but every one I repair I break 2 more. The repairs also stick out like a soar thumb because the color fade is totally different. They break too if the hail is big enough, but insurance will not pay to replace a whole tile roof, only repair, and my roof insurance is based on the cost of hail damage in the area so even if I don't have shingles I pay the increased costs in insurance when the hail rolls through. I'm glad I don't have hurricanes, but I would not recommend my roof in a hurricane either.. little pieces of concrete flying around would be bad.
I really want to go to the architectural grade shingle with the higher warranty. We get a lot of hail, and a few tornadoes where I am. That would be what I would choose if I had the money to just replace everything.

 

[SFLman]

Thanks for the comments everyone. As JoeCaption suggested, I went and talked with the neighbor.

It turns out he worked in the roofing industry for about 30 years, and he does not like his roof. He described it as a spray foam polyurethane, actually two different materials, one put down on top of the other.

The main problem he keeps having is bubbling. The hump indicated below is so large and uniform-looking in its shape, I thought the material was covering some sort of equipment. It's not, that's a bubble. I asked him why the bubbling is happening, was it expanding moist air under the material. He said he wasn't sure, and it could be some sort of problem between the two layers of material which were applied to the roof.

He says that this type of roof is very wind resistant, and has not leaked, but that I should definitely not do what he did. He singled out something he called "barrel tile" as a very impractical choice frequently made in the area. He cited the problem MrWiz mentioned of breaking tiles when he talked about barrel tiles.




In his opinion, either a traditional asphalt shingle roof - as earlier suggested - is best, or he feels that metal roofs do a good job of surviving hurricanes. He pointed out the house next door so I took a picture. He told me that after each of the hurricanes he has been through, he has noticed that this metal type of roof is one of the types that survives.








His advice was, you get what you pay for, and any of the best choices will cost at least 25K for a full roof replacement.

 

[oldognewtrick]

That type of metal panel is an agricultural panel, made for barns. The exposed fasteners will at some point leak due to decay of the neopreme washer. If I were to install a metal roof on my house, I would get a standing seam panel installation. You pay more, but you get more. The edges are folded over the drip edge, crimped on it. You lessen the chance of wind lift at the panel edge. And, there's no exposed fasteners.

Cows and horses really don't care a whole lot if the roof leaks, you, or your significant other surely will.

 

[MrMiz]

That type of metal panel is an agricultural panel, made for barns. The exposed fasteners will at some point leak due to decay of the neopreme washer. If I were to install a metal roof on my house, I would get a standing seam panel installation. You pay more, but you get more. The edges are folded over the drip edge, crimped on it. You lessen the chance of wind lift at the panel edge. And, there's no exposed fasteners.

Cows and horses really don't care a whole lot if the roof leaks, you, or your significant other surely will.

I also have the agricultural panels on my shop and barn and "oldognewtrick" is correct. The neoprene washers have in fact decayed and allow water in. Which is a major annoyance on a shop, but I would think it would be way worse on a house. It's impossible to figure out which of the washers have decayed because the water is minimal enough that it keeps surface tension on the roof and travels long distances from the actual leak. So then you have to get up there and silicone every single one till the leak stops.

I don't have any standing seam roof so I can't say from personal experience, but I would pick it over the 2 types I have. Oh and before it comes up metal roofing is significantly louder in any storm than other roofing. Even if the sound isn't coming "through" the roof because you did some kind of sound deadening you can still hear it VERY clearly at you windows, and even through your bathroom exhaust fan. Took me FOREVER to identify that the noise was just echoing down my bathroom exhaust and late at night noises are maddening.