Roofing Foundations - PODCAST TRANSCRIPT

Editor's note: The following is the transcript of a live interview with Alex Manos from Polyglass. You can read the interview below or listen to the podcast!

Intro: Welcome to Roofing Road Trips, the podcast that takes you on a thrilling journey across the world of roofing. From fascinating interviews with roofing experts, to on-the-road adventures, we'll uncover the stories, innovations and challenges that shape the rooftops over our heads. So fasten your seatbelts, and join us as we embark on this exciting roofing road trip.

Karen Edwards: Hello and welcome to this episode of Roofing Road Trips by RoofersCoffeeShop. My name's Karen Edwards, and I am your guest host for today's episode. And we are excited to welcome Alex Manos from Polyglass to today's episode. Welcome, Alex.

Alex Manos: Thank you. Thanks for having us.

Karen Edwards: So, we're going to be talking today about roofing foundations, and specifically underlayments. But before we dive into that topic, could you introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about yourself to our listeners?

Alex Manos: Yeah, yeah. I've been the product manager for roofing underlayments at Polyglass for about two years now. Before that, I was with Polyglass. I've been with Polyglass for about four years now. I was managing the roofing accessory products. And then prior to that, I had some management experience with some other roofing companies. So all in all, probably been in the roofing world for about seven years now.

Karen Edwards: Okay. So tell us a little bit about Polyglass and what they do.

Alex Manos: Yeah. So Polyglass has been creating high quality roofing products since the 1960s, going all the way back over to Italy. And then the Polyglass and Zancetta family expanded operations over the US in the eighties, and then eventually moved our US headquarters over to Florida in the nineties. And then since then, Polyglass has really become the leading innovator in the roofing industry. In the nineties, we were one of the first people to launch self-adhered technology with our Adiso Technology. And then ever since then, we've been continuing to innovate new roofing products with technologies like Sealap, Sealap Ultra, Acure Technology. Some of our newer technologies are with Duofix, High Tread and Burnshield.

Karen Edwards: Wow. Yeah, I know Polyglass has always got announcements about this new technology, and this latest thing. So you guys are a great example of what innovating in the roofing industry looks like. So let's talk about underlayments. First, just from a basic perspective, what does an underlayment need to do?

Alex Manos: So, at a minimum, an underlayment should protect the roof deck or whatever substrate is going over, and either be a water shedding barrier or a waterproofing barrier that protects that roof deck until that primary roof covering is installed, whether that be a shingle metal or tile roof. But at Polyglass, we believe that the underlayments shouldn't be a secondary thought, it should be a vital part of that roofing system. And that's why it's really important that that underlayment meet the quality performance and application needs depending on what roof covering you're using.

Karen Edwards: Okay, so depending on what roof covering. So that's going to play a role, right? Tell me, there are a lot of underlayment choices. So how do you know what is the right choice?

Alex Manos: First place we tell contractors to start is what are the codes and approvals you need? So, depending on where you are regionally, codes might dictate you need a certain ASTM standard or you might need to have a Florida product approval or Texas Department of Insurance approval. So that's always a good place to start. And at Polyglass, we test all of our products to meet those ASTM standards, a wide range of those, along with most product approvals. So that's always a good place to start. And then it goes back to, like I said, matching with that primary roof covering. So for example, if you're using a metal roof, it's important that you have an underlayment that's designed for those high temperatures because that metal roof will transfer heat through to that roof deck. So, you don't want that underlayment getting too hot, deteriorating and then causing, I think what's called typically tobacco juice.

So you don't want that asphalt running down your roof after that metal covering heats it up. So, for that, we have numerous products, Polystick MTS Plus, XFR, Polystick MX and Polystick P. And so those are our high temp ones. And then, for example, tile, it's important that tile, it's going to be stacked on your roof. So you really want a robust membrane to be able to withstand that tile stacking and make sure those tiles don't slide at all, and have any issues there. And then also, if you're using foam adhesive, having a fabric-faced tile underlayment is important so that you get that good mechanical bond, and then have good wind uplift values because of that.

Karen Edwards: So, are there underlayments that are made specifically to protect from fire or protect... Talk about the different performance features maybe that the underlayments can have?

Alex Manos: Yeah, yeah, absolutely. So over the past couple of years, we've seen storms intensify with higher winds, higher gusts, longer sustained winds. And because of that, we've designed some different underlayments to address that. All of our self-adhered underlayments have great adhesion to stand up to that wind uplift value that you need. But we also recently came out with Polyanchor HV, which is an anchor sheet. It's designed with dual fixed technology. So it's a replacement for that 30 pound anchor sheet that's commonly used by contractors. But this membrane has a fiberglass reinforcement. It also has a modified bitumen top surface. So when you mechanically attach it and then self-adhere on top of it, you get an incredible bond that really helps with those wind uplift values. You can use less fasteners to achieve the values that you want, so you're saving on labor time.

And that's really important, those high wind areas. We're seeing it not only in Florida where you have hurricanes, but we're seeing it all through the Midwest in the plains with tornadoes and things like that. So yeah, it's a great anchor sheet that really addresses the wind uplift issues that we're seeing. And then on top of the wind, you have fires that are spreading and becoming a bigger problem. Typically, it's known as California has those big wildfires and things like that, but it's spreading throughout the west now. And we're even seeing it in places like Texas. And even Florida, there was one on the news today that sparked up.

So having a Class A fire-rated underlayment, it's really important. And so we developed two Class A rated underlayments, Polystick XFR, which is our self-adhered fire-rated underlayment, and Polyanchor XFR, which is a mechanically attached underlayment. Polystick XFR is more designed for that high temp roof application. And then Polyanchor XFR is mechanically attached, and is more designed to go underneath tile. And still with both products, you can achieve a Class A fire-rating with only one layer, versus the old way of doing it was using a slip sheet that was fire-rated, and then putting your underlayment on top of that or some type of two-ply system with a 30-pound felt in a granulated cap. So by doing it with one membrane, you're saving on material costs and labor costs.

Karen Edwards: I want to talk a little bit about the difference between mechanically fastened and self-adhered. And when is it better to choose one over another?

Alex Manos: Depends on a lot of contractor preferences, first of all. So some guys just like to mechanically attach. Some guys like to peel and stick, they think it's a little bit quicker. You're not putting holes in your roof as you're mechanically fastening. So you have a nice monolithic bond between your underlayment and the deck. Some areas dictate whether you can go directly to the deck with self-adhered. Sometimes, our self-adhered is very strong. So when it comes time to re-roof, it's not always the easiest to peel back off. So, what a lot of contractors will do is they'll keep that initial self-adhered there, use a mechanically attached anchor sheet, create a new substrate and then be able to put a second layer of a Polystick self-adhered underlayment on top of that.

Karen Edwards: Okay. Wow. We talked a little bit about innovating at the beginning of the conversation. And I wanted to circle back to that, and talk about some of the innovations that have allowed Polyglass to provide underlayments for all these different scenarios and these different situations. You guys must have a huge R&D team, right?

Alex Manos: Yes, R&D team's very busy. And we get great support from our sales and our technical team, seeing issues that are out in the field, and hearing complaints that contractors have. And so our goal is to use whatever technology we can develop to minimize that labor aspect, and then also creating a safer roof system. So it's not just this matches the high temp that you need. But with the fire-rated underlayment, now you're protecting your investment and using that Burnshield technology to ensure that your roof's going to stay in one piece.

Karen Edwards: Wow. Yeah. So underlayment is a pretty key part of every roofing system. What's the exposure? If a contractor is putting on the underlayment, but maybe their roofing materials delayed, what's that look like and is that safe?

Alex Manos: Yeah. So we have a wide range of exposure ratings, is what we call them, for our underlayment. So some are down 90 days. Some of our more basic shingle underlayments like Polystick IR Xe, or our Polystick MX, our lower end metal underlayment. But we have some, our TU Plus, which is our very robust tile underlayment, it has an exposure rating of 360 days.

Karen Edwards: Oh, wow.

Alex Manos: And then our TUP, which is more of a niche product, but it's also a granulated surface tile underlayment, that has an exposure actually of over a thousand days. And right now, that's really important because we're seeing some really long lead times with tile. So that means a contractor can install this TU Plus or TUP for a while and dry that roof in, make sure everything underneath it is protected and waterproofed, and wait until he gets his tile and not be in a rush or in a pinch to schedule all these projects.

Karen Edwards: Right. Gosh, I hope they don't have to have that up for a thousand days.

Alex Manos: Yeah.

Karen Edwards: I know we still have some supply chain issues, but that's a really long time.

Alex Manos: Yeah, but most of ours are, yeah, they're around usually 180 days. So that's typically all the long you need to wait for a roof covering. So yeah, we have a nice wide range of exposure ratings.

Karen Edwards: Now, what's the learning curve. If a contractor has never used Polyglass underlayments and wants to get started, how easy is that for them to pick it up and just be installing it?

Alex Manos: Yeah. For the mechanically attached ones, if they're installing 30 pound felts and things like that, they have very similar nail patterns and things like that. So those are pretty quick to pick up. And then for our self-adhered, if they're new to self-adhered, it's pretty simple, people call them peeling sticks because the installation process. So we have a great technical team. And if somebody were to be new to it, we'd get our technical team out there and show them. But I have very little roofing background, not a lot of hands-on experience. But I've installed my fair share of it, and it's definitely not as difficult as it is some other roofing products. And we also have a poly school too that we send a lot of new contractors to. And they do a great job of going through all of our products, especially underlayments.

Karen Edwards: Okay. So it's hands-on?

Alex Manos: Yeah.

Karen Edwards: You go to this training polyschool, and then you get to try it, you get to do it?

Alex Manos: Yeah, exactly. We'll host polyschools at either our main facility in Winter Haven, or sometimes our polyschool can travel around and teach a crew if that's what's needed. Then they'll do a presentation for a couple of hours. But really what they like to do is get their hands on the material, and show guys how to do it.

Karen Edwards: You mentioned listening and gathering feedback, and the whole process of innovating and creating new solutions. How often are you in the field working with and talking to contractors?

Alex Manos: As a product manager, we try to get out a couple of times a month. The more we're out there, like you said, we get more information back. And we rely really heavily on our technical team. We'll meet with them. And they'll give us feedback of, "Hey, they're really liking this aspect of a product, but they're not liking this. How can we create a new one, or maybe even tweak an existing product to make it better for our customers?" And then our sales team, they're always coming up with great new ideas. So we always have a nice backlog of products to develop. And really, it's also staying up on code changes, that can drive a lot of product needs. So we had some code changes happen in Florida. And that's really what drove our Poly-ink or HV product.

Karen Edwards: Wow. Yeah. Well, I'm sure you have a full-time person that's just tracking codes, right? There's so many. And so many different jurisdictions, it's nuts.

Alex Manos: Yeah. And we go with a whole holistic approach with new product development. And anybody's able to come up with an idea, whether it's a new person that just started out our plant or a seasoned codes person. Anybody who has an idea is more than welcome to bring them to product management and let us vet that out.

Karen Edwards: I like that. No idea is a bad idea. We want to hear it all, and then maybe it will inspire something else.

Alex Manos: Yeah. And that happens a lot where we're like, "Oh, we had this idea. Didn't work in this application, but maybe we can use it on the low slope side, or building envelope side," and things like that. So yeah, always trying to, again, back to Polygloss's core of being innovative and open to new ideas.

Karen Edwards: Excellent. Now we have a few weeks before the Florida Roofing and Sheet Metal Show, is happening at the beginning of June. Will I see you there? I'm sure I will.

Alex Manos: Yes. Yep. I'll be there. We'll have a whole crew there ready to go. So yeah, Polyglass is always very excited for the show.

Karen Edwards: Okay. So contractors could stop by and see and touch and feel the products?

Alex Manos: Yeah. We'll have samples of pretty much every underlayment product. And we'll also be doing a demo with the Polyanchor HV product. So, we'll be doing some different nail patterns there, some nail patterns that will save some labor time and really showcase the Polyanchor HV product and show that great adhesion that it has with our Polystick underlayments. And yeah, we'll have samples, literature, usually have some videos playing in the booth. And we'll have our whole team there. So product managers, sales reps, technical reps. So yeah, please swing by, and pop in with any questions.

Karen Edwards: Yeah, yeah. That's going to be here before we know it. So definitely will. We'll make sure we talk to you at the show, and we'll make sure we come by and check out some of these cool products.

Alex Manos: Yeah, I love that.

Karen Edwards: So how can contractors learn more about your products?

Alex Manos: First place to start is our website, polyglass.us. If they want to talk to somebody specifically like a rep in their region, we have a rep. You can punch in your zip code, and find the rep that's closest to you if you want to talk to that person. But you can also find a lot of great information just on the products alone on our website, whether that be data sheets, sell sheets, application instructions, product selection guides. There's a lot of good content there to go through, and just get an introduction to Polyglass products.

Karen Edwards: Excellent. I know you guys have certainly a lot of options for a lot of different kinds of roofs and waterproofing. So yeah, be sure to check it out. Like you said, polyglass.us. Polyglass also has a full directory on RoofersCoffeeShop. And we have a lot of product information and articles out there that you can visit as well. So Alex, thank you for spending the time with us today, and talking all about underlayments. It's been really interesting.

Alex Manos: Yeah. Thank you, thank you. It was my pleasure.

Karen Edwards: All right, I want to thank everybody for listening to this episode of Roofing Road Trips. Be sure to follow us on social media, listen to additional episodes on whatever platform that you get your podcasts from. And we will see you next time. Thanks, Alex.

Alex Manos: Thank you.

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