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Dennis Davidson Posted: Jan 26, 2012 10:36 AM	Worst Foam Roof I've Seen in Years!! Yesterday I looked at a foam roof that was installed just about 6 months ago by a guy claiming to have 30 years experience. What I saw was unbelievable! A contractor from Michigan (hopefully they see this) came all the way to Akron, Ohio for a 9,000sf roof and here's what they did: Installed 1/2" or less of 2lb foam over everything including a dozen 3X5 domed skylights. Rolled on a very thin layer of an aluminum coating over about 75% of the foam leaving the rest bare. Sprayed some wood 4X4 pipe supports into the roof. Left several pond areas. Blocked a drain. Then, sold the building owner a set of 2lb foam and 30 gals of polyurea to do another 4,300sf roof section. Now the building owner is convinced that I'm trying to rip him off because I refused to install a 1/2" layer of his 2lb foam like the other "expert" did. This is a perfect example of why there is a difference between a spray foam installer and a foam roofer.
Posted: Jan 26, 2012 04:48 PM	should be a law against 1/2" punishable by stockade like the old days. I thought they only did stupid things down here. I will include picture if I figure out how. I am repairing some older foam roofs for a customer in Nola. The first roof that I was on, foamer created a 2" what looked like a donut around all of the 8 4" drains on the roof leaving ponding. No biggie, I can fix. Second roof, 3/8" to 1/2" of foam across the whole roof. I could see ever seam, screw and even a penny from the top of the foam. I would have never believed in a million years that someone would have installed that little foam. Atleast mine was 3 pound though :) This roofer is one of the old timers in the industry from my area. Customer is going to pay to remove and start over to get it right though.
Posted: Jan 26, 2012 04:59 PM	Dennis, I emailed the pictures to you. I couldn't bear putting them on the internet.
Circle-D Posted: Jan 26, 2012 07:25 PM	Oh come on Steve, let us all see!
Dennis Davidson Posted: Jan 26, 2012 07:58 PM	Steve, pretty ugly roof!! I've sent a few back to you. These pictures should be included in every training coarse under the "what not to do" category.
Gerry Wagoner Posted: Dec 10, 2012 01:16 PM	We've seen a couple like this, Dennis. Love the foamed over 4x4's. That's special. We had a "foamer" in Cincinnati install foam over a metal roof. You'll appreciate this. He got down real close to the ribs and sprayed between them as if they were studs with iso-rich foam. That was the finish surface. Oddly, the roof failed. :) `oG
Dennis Davidson Posted: Dec 12, 2012 11:08 AM	I've seen a few like that over the years too! There's one locally here that's about 80k sf. They sprayed multiple layers at different times and ended up with moisture between layers. Now it looks like the surface of the moon with large blisters everywhere. Applicators that have never sprayed a roof before, and especially over metal, just don't understand it's a very different application technique than spraying walls. I've had very good wall applicators that never could adapt to spraying a roof. I've also had roof applicators that couldn't spray a tank. So one applicator does not necessarily fit all! Sure, there's a lot of applicators that can do it all but we only talk about the bad ones. Maybe a forum should be set up to recognize our good applicators achievements. Oh wait, then everyone would be on it. Note: The customer with the worst roof: looks like they had someone come in and just coat over what was there, skylights and all. It's funny how people can think your the bad guy even when you prove your doing it right. (not the first time for this either).

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Dennis Davidson

Posted: Jan 26, 2012 10:36 AM

Worst Foam Roof I've Seen in Years!!

Yesterday I looked at a foam roof that was installed just about 6 months ago by a guy claiming to have 30 years experience. What I saw was unbelievable!
A contractor from Michigan (hopefully they see this) came all the way to Akron, Ohio for a 9,000sf roof and here's what they did:
Installed 1/2" or less of 2lb foam over everything including a dozen 3X5 domed skylights.
Rolled on a very thin layer of an aluminum coating over about 75% of the foam leaving the rest bare.
Sprayed some wood 4X4 pipe supports into the roof.
Left several pond areas.
Blocked a drain.
Then, sold the building owner a set of 2lb foam and 30 gals of polyurea to do another 4,300sf roof section. Now the building owner is convinced that I'm trying to rip him off because I refused to install a 1/2" layer of his 2lb foam like the other "expert" did.
This is a perfect example of why there is a difference between a spray foam installer and a foam roofer.

Posted: Jan 26, 2012 04:48 PM

should be a law against 1/2" punishable by stockade like the old days. I thought they only did stupid things down here. I will include picture if I figure out how.

I am repairing some older foam roofs for a customer in Nola. The first roof that I was on, foamer created a 2" what looked like a donut around all of the 8 4" drains on the roof leaving ponding. No biggie, I can fix.

Second roof, 3/8" to 1/2" of foam across the whole roof. I could see ever seam, screw and even a penny from the top of the foam. I would have never believed in a million years that someone would have installed that little foam. Atleast mine was 3 pound though :)

This roofer is one of the old timers in the industry from my area.

Customer is going to pay to remove and start over to get it right though.

Posted: Jan 26, 2012 04:59 PM

Dennis, I emailed the pictures to you. I couldn't bear putting them on the internet.

Circle-D

Posted: Jan 26, 2012 07:25 PM

Oh come on Steve, let us all see!

Dennis Davidson

Posted: Jan 26, 2012 07:58 PM

Steve, pretty ugly roof!!

I've sent a few back to you. These pictures should be included in every training coarse under the "what not to do" category.

Gerry Wagoner

Posted: Dec 10, 2012 01:16 PM

We've seen a couple like this, Dennis. Love the foamed over 4x4's. That's special.

We had a "foamer" in Cincinnati install foam over a metal roof. You'll appreciate this. He got down real close to the ribs and sprayed between them as if they were studs with iso-rich foam. That was the finish surface.

Oddly, the roof failed. :)

`oG

Dennis Davidson

Posted: Dec 12, 2012 11:08 AM

I've seen a few like that over the years too! There's one locally here that's about 80k sf. They sprayed multiple layers at different times and ended up with moisture between layers. Now it looks like the surface of the moon with large blisters everywhere. Applicators that have never sprayed a roof before, and especially over metal, just don't understand it's a very different application technique than spraying walls. I've had very good wall applicators that never could adapt to spraying a roof. I've also had roof applicators that couldn't spray a tank. So one applicator does not necessarily fit all! Sure, there's a lot of applicators that can do it all but we only talk about the bad ones. Maybe a forum should be set up to recognize our good applicators achievements. Oh wait, then everyone would be on it.
Note: The customer with the worst roof: looks like they had someone come in and just coat over what was there, skylights and all. It's funny how people can think your the bad guy even when you prove your doing it right. (not the first time for this either).

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