Before I attach some fancy charts, let me clear something up.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s a difference between a coating and a membrane, and it can be hard to draw the line at times. In my professional opinion, I consider a roofing membrane to be your primary long-term, durable, and flexible barrier to prevent water and chemicals from damaging your insulation and entering your building. Going beyond roofing, let\u2019s look at the definition of a membrane. A membrane is a \u201cpliable sheetlike structure acting as a boundary, lining, or partition in an organism.\u201d<\/p>\n
The cells in your body have membranes separating the inside from the outside, protecting vital interior elements from damage. These cellular membranes are two layers (lipid bilayer) working together (this is where all fans of 2-ply, 4-ply, and 6-ply roof systems start cheering\u2026redundancy starts at the cellular level!). Not all that different from a waterproofing membrane, serving as a pliable, long-term barrier between the structure and the elements.<\/p>\n
So what do I mean when I say a coating is not a membrane? Let\u2019s go back to the human anatomy analogy. Your skin is a membrane. It\u2019s tough, flexible, and virtually impermeable (you can sit in the bathtub for hours and get wrinkly, but your body doesn\u2019t blow up like a balloon\u2026skin is only permeable to lipids and fat solvents). It protects the underlying tissues and organs from \u201cthe outside\u201d.<\/p>\n
But if you\u2019re a naturally pale guy, like me, your skin is damaged when you\u2019re in the sun too long. Your sunscreen is a coating. The purpose of sunscreen is to protect your skin, the membrane, from damage. It\u2019s permeable, so you can still sweat, and it\u2019s applied relatively thin. Unless you\u2019re a lifeguard, then you put a nice thick layer of lotion on your nose. It doesn\u2019t last very long, so you\u2019ll need to re-apply. Alright, where am I going with this crazy analogy?<\/p>\n
Liquid roofing products are not all that dissimilar. You have those that work great as a coating (sunscreen): applied in thin layers (20-30 mils), protect from UV degradation, permeable, cool you down (reflective), but need re-coated and touched up often. They do not perform like a membrane. They are not very durable, tough, flexible, or long-lasting. But they work great for protecting membranes! Think about it, what if your cells were only protected with a couple layers of acrylic paint?<\/p>\n
Then you have other liquid products that work great as a membrane and end up like those made into rolls at a factory. Thick (50-80 mils), durable, flexible, strong, and impermeable. They serve as a primary barrier separating the structure from the elements. Some are reinforced, some are multi-layered, but the intended purpose is the same. No seams, fully-adhered, and self-terminating. These liquid-applied, seamless membranes should act more like your skin than your sunscreen.<\/p>\n
The reason I write this article today is because all too often any material sold in a bucket or drum is labeled a \u201ccoating\u201d and given the same negative stereotype. I\u2019ve heard it often, \u201cif it comes in a bucket, it sucks.\u201d But they don\u2019t all suck. With so many to choose from and filter through, it gets confusing and crowded. Here are a couple charts I made comparing the properties of both coatings and membranes. Which ones would you rather have acting as a skin protecting your structure?<\/p>\n
Disclaimer: These are real numbers derived from technical data sheets of large manufacturers in the industry, but I only selected what I felt was the best representation of that product type. If you want to know which products I\u2019m comparing, message me. The only name revealed is our liquid-applied rubber membrane. Obviously I want to show you its the best, but it\u2019s not the right fit for every roof. That\u2019s why we recommend a variety of materials for our clients, depending on their unique needs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Membranes & Coatings \u2013 Like Skin & Sunscreen Before I attach some fancy charts, let me clear something up. There\u2019s a difference between a coating and a membrane, and it can be hard to draw the line at times. In my professional opinion, I consider a roofing membrane to be your primary long-term, durable, and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[9,10],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tritonwp.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3747"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tritonwp.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tritonwp.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tritonwp.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tritonwp.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3747"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/tritonwp.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3747\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3750,"href":"https:\/\/tritonwp.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3747\/revisions\/3750"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tritonwp.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3747"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tritonwp.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3747"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tritonwp.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3747"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}