From the walls to the roof

By Emma Peterson. 

Learn how VaproShield is tackling and solving vapor management issues nationwide. 

In this episode of Roofing Road Trips®, Karen Edwards spoke to Dan Clancy of VaproShield about the origin of the company and how they are serving contractors today. Dan has been working with VaproShield for almost a decade now and oversees their East Coast operations. VaproShield as a company got its start on the other side of the country, as Dan shared, “We've been around for about 22 years now.  We were founded out in the Pacific Northwest in Seattle.” The company got started there to build solutions for the moisture issues that were cropping up all over the Seattle market, thanks to the characteristic Pacific Northwest drizzle.  

Now, around two decades later, one of their hallmark products is the SlopeShield Plus, which is a moisture managing membrane. The distinct difference from their original work is that this peel and stick sheet membrane is specifically designed for roofs or horizontal applications. This was a natural progression for the company, which Dan calls solution driven. He explained, “We like to provide the market. We help identify needs, and then we try our very best to meet those needs with materials, with products, with systems. We started with an influence on the wall, managing moisture through the walls. But the walls have easily migrated to the full envelope to include the roof.” 

The SlopeShield Plus membrane is a permeable vapor retarder. Dan elaborated on some of the details, saying, “It's typically installed at the deck. For all the different types of roofing assemblies that are out there, standing seam metal, any kind of exotic metal, modified bitumen, single ply, all the above. At some point in that assembly, you should have an air barrier. So SlopeShield Plus is just that.” The key that sets SlopeShield Plus apart from other air barriers is the aforementioned permeability. This means that moisture vapor can travel through the barrier while it still repels liquids. Dan explained what this looks in practice, saying, “When you put SlopeShield Plus down, it's going to shed that water. It's true waterproofing. But if there's any kind of subsurface moisture, you're giving it that opportunity to escape out. If the moisture was to stay trapped, especially in a roof, it turns into much bigger problems down the road.” 

Read the transcript or Listen to the episode to learn more about VaproShield’s SlopeShield Plus and how it is solving vapor moisture management issues across the country.