Managing moisture before it becomes a callback

By Emma Peterson.

Learn how SlopeShield Plus SA stops moisture and protects the building envelope.

The last thing any contractor wants to hear is that there is moisture intrusion in a project that they thought was finished and they need to go back to fix it. This type of callback is a common and frustrating part of working in the roofing industry. But there are things that contractors can do to avoid it! In this episode of Roofing Road Trips®, Chris Meyer of VaproShield talked to Karen Edwards about how SlopeShield Plus SA can address moisture infiltration and protect the structure of a roof.  

Chris started out by sharing a story with Karen, “A few years ago, I was up on a job inspection, and it was in January and the building owner was starting to get very nervous. And he said, ‘Well, the roof's cracking under my feet.’ So we told him, ‘There's nothing wrong with your roof membrane. The cracking that you're hearing is actually a thin layer of ice that's directly underneath your membrane.’” The reason for that layer of ice? Moisture intrusion. This can have a variety of negative impacts on your roof. One big issue is energy efficiency. Chris explained, “The NRCA reported that it can create a heat sink on your insulation's performance up to 40%.”  

This is the problem that SlopeShield Plus SA aims to solve by stopping that moisture from building up underneath membranes and other roofing materials. It does this by being an innovative combination of both air barrier and permeable vapor retarder membrane. That means that not only does it curb air leakage and mitigate water vapor intrusion in the building envelope, but it also releases any moisture beneath it, greatly reducing the condensation that builds up in the structure.  

The most obvious benefit of using SlopeShield Plus SA is avoiding the situation that building owner was in with the layer of ice beneath their membrane. But this also allows contractors more control over their project timelines. Chris explained, “One contractor I spoke to earlier last year had three different projects going on at the same time that needed to get done. And he only had one crew available. So what they were able to do with this product is tear everything off, put this SlopeShield Plus SA down, tape the seams as required and then his crew could move on to the next job.” The building would then dry out (and stay dry) because of the SlopeShield on it while the crew was getting the next job started, allowing that one crew to be far more productive and efficient.  

Read the transcript or Listen to the episode to learn more about SlopeShield Plus SA.