JP Stevens EP TPO Roofing Membrane

We need to do some repairs on a building that has JP Stevens EP TPO roofing membrane, but that company went out of business several years ago. Does anyone have experience doing repairs on this type of TPO or know what kind of TPO we could use to do repairs on this roof?

Thanks for your help!

Sergio Rodriguez Apex Roofing, Inc. 817-239-8744 www.apextx.com sergio@apextx.com

Bob P., I think you're right about it. But it can be not so easy to remove different layers from your roof, like asbestos layer, you know. I've been looking all over the web recently, and here is my source that I found. It explains a lot of different things about asbestos, and you should do for effective removal process from your roof.

Should've added- the blends of "TPO" change almost as often as I change my socks. JPS-EP is not modern TPO and you won't find any that will weld to it.

-Cyberian

I was not aware of that. What's the rationale behind changing the blends often?

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Alexandra from Revetements Agro

Should've added- the blends of "TPO" change almost as often as I change my socks. JPS-EP is not modern TPO and you won't find any that will weld to it.

EPDM S/A cover strip, S/A corners, and batten cover (S/A uncured) will all work with EPDM primer or if it ponds or is chalked badly use EPDM seam adhesive. EPDM membrane and uncured will stick with seam adhesive.

It's been my experience that EPDM uncured tends to age much faster on white non-EPDM membranes and if you're using it to strap shrinking and splitting, it'll soon split right along with it. Use cured cover strip where you can.

If you repair absolutely needs to be white, TPO S/A cover will stick to both EPDM primer and seam adhesive. I'm no fan of white EPDM, but if you can find it, it'll work too.

If the membrane is tan, they'll just have to deal with black or white. Historically, the big box that wore tan EP didn't care about repair color.

If it's black, it's long gone. I've got a trick to salvage that one that lasted a couple of years, but it'll cost you a plane ticket for me to show you.

Avoid most TPO primers on aged or chalky membranes, it's too thin, especially Everguard primer/conditioner which just smears the crap around so you stick to crap.

All the above said, any repairs are only buying time, and not much at that. You're just putting on wax and makeup...

You may want to do some test cuts (if you haven't already) to see what the sheet looks like on the underside. You may find what we discovered on a project where the sheet was failing within 7 years of service. The compound appeared very "chalky", and almost granular which was causing numerous pinholes and cracks on both the topside and underside of the sheet. The underside was where we could really see the extent of the pin-holes and cracks and when our test cut was held up to a light source.....well...alarming whould be an understatement!!!

We have had reasonable success with other TPO repairs by using pressure sensitive EPDM materials like Firestone' QuickSeam Flashing, after cleaning and priming...don't get too agressive with the cleaning as the sheet may have already experienced loss of some of the compound thickness above the scrim reinforcement. You may want to try different "primer" products to see what works best....maybe even EPDM seam adhesive (black glue) since it has a more agressive solvent than the QuickSeam primer typically used with the pressure sensitive tape.

Considering what you are dealing with in terms of your situation, the deterioration, pinholes and cracks may be so widespread that repairs may prove futile and replacement may be required.

Please keep us posted on your findings.