• Ship time, stocked items 1–3 business days
  • Quotes We reply within one business day.
  • Support hello@coatyard.com
Request a quote
Menu

Sherwin-Williams Uniflex · EPDM, TPO, PVC and Hypalon

Restore an EPDM, TPO, PVC or Hypalon roof in place

An attached membrane over dry insulation can be coated where it lies: the preparation the membrane calls for, tape and sealant at the details, then the single-ply base coat and an acrylic finish, or Silicone44 on its own where water stands. In stock by the pail and the drum, shipped in 1–3 business days. Applied over a sound, dry roof, a restoration system adds 10 to 15 years of service life.

Request a quote Request a moisture scan
A roofer seen from behind rolling white coating across a flat commercial roof, the coated strip bright beside the weathered gray surface

Condition first

A candidate has an attached membrane and dry insulation

On a single-ply roof that can be restored, the wear is at the laps and the details. EPDM opens at its seams and laps, and as it shrinks it pulls at flashings, curbs and the perimeter. TPO weathers at the surface: it chalks and wears thin. Any membrane picks up punctures around rooftop units and along the paths service crews walk. Those are repairs, made one detail at a time before anything is coated. What no coating fixes is a membrane that has come loose, or wet insulation under it.

  • The membrane is still attached, and the splits are at laps and details, not running through the field
  • The insulation is dry. A roof with wet insulation is not a candidate until that is cut out and replaced
  • The deck is sound: what it carries and why it deflects are questions for the building's engineer
  • Water leaves at the drains and scuppers; where it still stands after rain, the finish changes to silicone
  • PVC is coatable: Uniflex's single-ply specifications cover EPDM, TPO and PVC. Hypalon takes the acrylic system; where it holds water, send us the roof

Is this roof a candidate?

Surveying this roof

Insulated single-ply is what the scan is for

Coating makers, Sherwin-Williams included, require wet insulation to be found and replaced before a coating goes on, and its guide specification for silicone over single-ply asks for every roof area to be inspected for moisture. A membrane can look sound while the boards under it are wet. On an evening after a sunny day, a drone with a thermal camera flies the roof; wet insulation holds the day's heat longer than dry insulation and shows warmer. You get a map, video from the flight and a written assessment, before anyone budgets for a coating or a new roof.

  • Suits EPDM, TPO, PVC and Hypalon laid over insulation, on commercial low-slope roofs anywhere in the US; on a bright white membrane, tell us the surface and we will say whether a flight is worth it
  • The map outlines every area that looks wet and measures it in square feet
  • The scan marks suspects; the cores confirm them. Nothing has to be decided until you have seen the map
  • It needs a sunny day, then a clear, dry, calm evening; we fly only with the owner's go-ahead
  • On ballast, a highly reflective surface or insulation that holds no water, the survey is done another way
  • Scan before you coat: a white coating makes later thermal work harder

Request a moisture scan

The build-up

What goes over a single-ply roof, from the membrane up

Work from the bottom of the drawing up, details before field. Wet areas the scan flags and the cores confirm are cut out and replaced first. EPDM gets the wash primer, rinsed off; TPO, PVC and Hypalon are pressure-washed instead. On EPDM and aged TPO and PVC, bonding tape and the black MS hybrid sealant close the laps, seams and flashings; on Hypalon the butyl seam tape is the listed detail, coated the same day. Keep the brushable repair sealant KST058500 off EPDM. The single-ply base coat then covers the field and every detail, and is never left without a finish coat.

  • Finish coat KST041300 Or the commercial grade KST041500
  • Single-ply base coat KST041321 Base coat only: must be topcoated
  • Tape KST058006 and sealant KST058310 Laps, seams and flashings; butyl tape on Hypalon
  • Wash primer KST038620 EPDM only, rinsed off; others pressure-washed
  • Existing EPDM, TPO, PVC or Hypalon Attached, repaired at the details
  • Insulation Dry; wet sections replaced first
  • Roof deck Sound
Butyl seam tape KST020804 on Hypalon Silicone44: no base coat
The acrylic system, in order of application. Under Silicone44 the base coat and finish give way to the silicone alone. Illustrative diagram — proportions are not to scale.

Choosing the finish coat

Acrylic where it drains, silicone where water stands

Silicone44 is the finish where water stands, but it does not fix drainage: Uniflex's silicone specifications still expect at least 1/4 in per ft of slope and working drains. The solvent-based pair does not list single-ply. Whether the deck can carry standing water is the engineer's question.

Feature Acrylic finish coat Silicone44 finish coat
Where it goes Roofs that drain Where water stands after rain
Part numbers KST041300, or KST041500 (commercial) Silicone44 KST044300 (white), KST044320 (gray)
What goes under it Base coat KST041321; the wash primer first on EPDM only No base coat: the wash primer on EPDM, nothing on weathered TPO or PVC, after an adhesion test
Under standing water Can peel under prolonged ponding Made for standing water; does not fix drainage
Hypalon Listed: pressure wash, then KST041321 and the finish No Uniflex silicone document covers it: send us the roof
Installed cost Toward the low end of the restore range Toward the high end of the restore range

Ponding water and roof coatings

Order by part number

The single-ply system, in stock

Genuine Sherwin-Williams Uniflex in the maker's sealed packaging, shipped in 1–3 business days. Priced per project. Count the laps, curbs and penetrations: they set the tape and sealant on the order. Under silicone, Uniflex details curbs and penetrations with OneFlash sealant, which we do not stock.

Estimate the material

Questions

Before you coat a single-ply roof

Can you coat over a TPO roof?
Yes, and weathered TPO needs no primer. For an acrylic finish, pressure-wash it, seal open seams and flashings with the black MS hybrid sealant KST058310, then the single-ply base coat KST041321 and a finish coat. Where water stands, Silicone44 KST044300 (white) or KST044320 (gray) goes straight on after an adhesion test, with no base coat. The KST058310 data sheet lists aged TPO; new TPO needs a primer first, so ask us. If the adhesion test comes in low, Uniflex names the primer for that roof.
Do I have to prime EPDM before coating it?
Yes. The Bond-It wash primer KST038620 cleans weathered EPDM; it is rinsed off and the roof left to dry, under the single-ply base coat KST041321 or under Silicone44. It is for EPDM only, not white EPDM, and not for TPO, PVC or Hypalon. Open seams and flashings take the black MS hybrid sealant KST058310. New, unweathered EPDM takes a different primer, so ask us. Keep the brushable repair sealant KST058500 off EPDM: it is not for that membrane.
What about a PVC roof?
PVC can be coated: Uniflex's single-ply specifications, silicone and acrylic, cover EPDM, TPO and PVC. On weathered PVC, Silicone44 KST044300 (white) or KST044320 (gray) goes on directly after an adhesion test, with no primer and no base coat; open seams and flashings are sealed first with the black MS hybrid sealant KST058310, whose data sheet lists aged PVC. For an acrylic finish on PVC, the single-ply specification covers it and the adhesion test settles the build-up. New PVC needs a primer first, so ask us.
What about a Hypalon roof?
A Hypalon (CSPE) roof that drains takes the acrylic system: pressure wash, the single-ply base coat KST041321, whose data sheet lists Hypalon, then KST041300 or KST041500. The wash primer is not for Hypalon. At seams the butyl seam tape KST020802 to KST020808 is the listed detail, coated the same day. None of our cartridge sealants names Hypalon, so the cartridge sealant is confirmed with the manufacturer's technical service and an adhesion test before the order: tell us the membrane type. No Uniflex silicone document covers Hypalon; where it holds water, send us the roof.
How do we know the coating will hold on this membrane?
Lay a small patch of the system on the membrane and pull it once it has cured. For Silicone44, Uniflex's test embeds a fabric strip in the patch, leaves it three days and looks for at least 2 lb per inch; a lower result goes to Uniflex, which decides the primer. Test more often where the roof is worn, shaded, previously coated or holds water. The current data sheet, not this page, names the preparation, the rate and the cure, and a written specification wins over both.
Will a thermal scan work on a ballasted EPDM roof?
No. The stone stores the day's heat and masks the small temperature differences the camera reads, so a ballasted roof is surveyed another way, with cores or a nuclear survey. A capacitance scanner is not suited to black EPDM either. On an insulated single-ply roof with nothing on top, the thermal scan suits, and cores then confirm what it flagged.
Can the restored roof carry a manufacturer's warranty?
Sherwin-Williams offers UNIGUARD system warranties of 10 or 15 years when one of its authorized contractors applies the system. The warranty is the manufacturer's, issued under its own terms; we supply the materials. The manufacturer inspects the finished roof before it issues one, and it requires a moisture survey by a qualified person on every system-warranty project, a third-party one for 15-year requests; whether a survey is accepted is its call. Say at quote time if a system warranty is wanted, and the material list follows that specification.
Who applies the system?
A roofing contractor; we never do the roofing work ourselves. If you have one, we supply the materials to them. If you do not, we work with a network of installers, roofing contractors who apply these systems, and can introduce you to one anywhere in the US, who looks at the roof and says whether it is a good candidate for restoration. Roofing and coating contractors who apply these systems can ask to join the network through the quote form; a person answers.
What does it cost against replacing the roof, and how long does it last?
Restoring a low-slope roof with a coating system typically runs $3.50 to $7 per square foot installed; tearing it off and replacing it typically runs $10 to $18. Those are typical installed ranges drawn from published industry figures, not a quote: the roof's condition, how much wet insulation has to come out, access and region move the number, and acrylic systems sit toward the low end of the restore range, silicone toward the high end. Applied over a sound, dry roof, a restoration system adds 10 to 15 years of service life.

The adhesion test patch

Get the single-ply system counted and priced

Tell us the membrane, the area of each roof level, the linear feet of laps and flashings, the curbs and penetrations, and whether water stands anywhere. If nobody knows yet what is under the membrane, start with the scan.

We reply within one business day.

Request a quote Request a moisture scan