Snowgaurds on an Epdm roof?

I have a customer with 2 lowslope dormers above a 1920's Ludowici tile roof. the dormers are about 2/12 and currently have .060 EPDM on them.

customer informs me that the past 2 winters large piles of ice would "avalanche" off the dormers-crashing down onto the tiles underneath.

we will be repairing an awning and doing extensive repairs to the tile roof shortly-and the customer would like some type of snow gaurd installed on the EPDM roof.

Personally- I have a hard time imagining ice and snow sliding on a 2/12---I suspect it is more in line with icecicles breaking loose from the eaves-but customer swears it is sliding off the roof- he can hear a long slide for several seconds before the crash.

any suggestions?-- I certainley prefer not to puncture the membrane.

thinking in terms of a painted aluminum angle iron or aluminum-slightly elevated on pads-and attached to the barge boards with 2 discretely painted brackets----- Stephen

We use alot of MP1 also, stuff is hard to beat and recommended for minor repairs on SPF. If not that then I like the tripolymer sealent from Geocil.

Dura Link has a quite large building down here where they make it all. I was in there last year and they have a big display area with about 3 or 4 cases of everything they make that they give out for samples. Amazing! You can get a tube or two of anything that you want to try. Colors too! Good stuff!

Not really. lol They parbly send all their seconds out here and I'm sure it serves us right. Maybe they're just hinting at us to slow down.

We have an M-1 frog that was caulked onto the top of our bulk diesel tank back when M-1 was first developed. While that little croaker finally lost his bond to the tank in this year's harsh winter, there's not a crack in his skin and he is still as flexible as the day he was created. Quite impressive.

I reckon it takes a special kind of stud to break out the side of an M-1 cartridge. B)

tut tut! ... Duralink is only one product of Chem Link.

http://www.chemlinkinc.com/

M-1 is killer stuff. It's compatible with just about everything. I buy that (and NP-1 polyurethane from Sonneborn and Karnak Ultra 19)) by the case on a regular basis. If it's cold, though, and you try to work too fast with too small an opening, M-1 will blow out the side every time. That's something you don't expect because it has an all-plastic casing that looks indestructible.

The Duralink product compatable with EDPM is M1.

There is a company near Kalamazoo called Dura-Link and they make all different kinds of caulk adhesive. They have one that is silicone based for the ice guards that would probably work well on EPDM. I believe ABC stocks it!

http://www.alpinesnowguards.com/pipe-snowguards.php

#115R is made for single ply systems and they work great. However, I prefer to cut out the whole area under the pad and install wood blocks, and think it's just the regular 115 in that application.

I never thought of gluing a snow gaurd to a rubber roof. The recommended adhesive seems to be for gluing to painted metal panels.

would anyone care to offer any thoughts on what the recommended glue will do to EPDM? the recommended glue seems to require MANY days of consecutive temps above 50 degrees for the glue to cure- I am wondering what the solvents in the glue will do to EPDM?

also wondering if the plastic gaurds would glue down acceptably with contact cement or splice adhesive? any thoughts? stephen

Stephen, You wouldn't need much at that pitch. I would bet that a few of the plastic snow guards adhered to the roof would hold everything in place until it melted. No penatrations thru the rubber and they do hold once they are set. do it now in the cooler months before it gets so hot they want to burn you installing them.

Alpine Snow guards expensive but they work

We had the issue of heat cables on an EPDM roof just about a month ago. I called Firestone technical for information and the tech I spoke to said that since the heat cables don't heat over 50 degrees that they would be perfectly fine. He suggested installing a barrier layer of rubber in the area where the cables would lay just to "be sure". His theory was that the sun heats the roof many more degrees hotter than a heat cable would and the sun does not melt the rubber. I dunno... makes sense to me but the customer chose to do nothing so I just don't know.

1 dormer faces south-1 dormer faces north.

I thought of heat cables- but the heat cable package says specifically do not use on rubber roofs.

customer insist this didn't happen before the EPDM was installed- previous roofs were layer after layer of 90# roll roofing ,etc.-all the way back to the 1920's. Old roof surface was so wavy and poor draining- it probably acted as its' own built in snow gaurd!. stephen