The rise of retrofit

By Emma Peterson.

From safety to sustainability and savings, learn why retrofitting is a great option for commercial roofs.

In a new episode of Roofing Road Trips®, Heidi J. Ellsworth met with Rodger Russ of Tremco to learn about the world of roofing retrofits. Roger has been in the metal roofing industry for almost four decades now. Retrofitting roofs has always been a big part of his world, and the rest of the industry has been catching on recently. He explained, “Retrofit by definition means you're adding something to a product or an item that was not part of the original manufacturing or in this case installation. So in the case of roofing, we're going to add a new roof surface over the existing roof surface.” Retrofitting is often done instead of fully tearing off and replacing an existing roof. There are a variety of benefits to choosing retrofit as your roofing solution.

Safety  

The roofing industry is an inherently dangerous profession for a variety of reasons, one of which is the requirement of operating at heights. But, retrofit presents a unique situation that tends to be safer than complete tear-off jobs. Rodger elaborated, “If you're tearing off a roof, you're opening up a building and or structure. So now, other than just the perimeter of the building, you have more open areas that are subject to somebody potentially having to fall into... But when you retrofit, you basically leave a working platform in place. So it can make it considerably safer.”

Sustainability

Retrofitting offers an attractive option to those looking for a more sustainable roofing option. Because it is a reinforcement of an existing roof, less materials get sent to the dump (in comparison to a tear-off) and you install fewer products and materials. Rodger explained, “If you look at the entire life cycle of the roof, that's where the savings and sustainability really show. With retrofit, you can install a roof that will last at least 50 years, as opposed to replacing it every 20 years.”

Savings  

While retrofitting can still be a fairly expensive process, a lot of the costs can be offset by the fact that the building does not have to completely shut down during the project timeline. Rodger explained, “The customer doesn't have to stop the business like they do with a tear-off. People often don't think of those other costs associated with interruptions of business.”

Read the transcript or Listen to the full episode to learn more about the world of roof retrofitting.