Opinions on Duro-last roofing material

I had a Durolast roof in July and it rained during installation. I was very unahppy how they took care of covering up the roof. Everthing got soaked. My sq. ft. was more than yours counting the garage and overhang. ( 1900 s f) The cost was more than the original bid and ended about $17,000.

For what its worth, our recently purchased Eichler had a foam (durafoam?) roof installed seven years ago, and recoated two years ago. In this last month, I have been up on the roof quite a bit installing a water heater vent and inspecting work done by a radiant heating company on this site (VERY clean work). After seven years, the roof is amazingly tough. There have been no leaks, There are no signs of degradation and the company that did the installation claims that there should be no maintenance for at least another 5 years. Overall, I am rather pleased that I have a foam roof.

Dean

READERS PLS note:

Durolast and Duro foam are two different roofing materials and different suppliers. Since I saw my neighbor recoating his foam roof himself (supplier flaked out on guarantee and offer of first FREE coating) every year and the birds pecki g at the foam because of tree seeds etc. I took his advice and did not get a foam roof. I went with the Duralast roofers and they are in Los Gatos. This is a vinyl roof that never needs recoating.
I also have re-roofed my Eichlers over the years with tar & gravel and never have they lasted as lon as they should have. Also they leaked even in the first year when installers didn't do aperfect job.

We have a Dura-Spray or Dura-Foam roof. We had it put on back in the really bad el-nino years about 6 years ago. Went from having swiss cheese for a roof (AKA tar and gravel) to having a lightweight, well-insulated, waterproof roof. Our experience with the company located in Menlo Park was excellent. We had the re-coat done this summer.

After the initial installation there was a teeny tiny leak in one corner. They came out immediately and repaired it. We have not had a problem since.

There are several viable roofing options for low-pitch homes, such as Eichlers and none are 100% perfect. I would say that the biggest differences between T&G and foam are weight (T&G is about 1.5 tons, putting structural pressure on your home; foam is very light), insulating properties (T&G has none, but you can pay extra for them to add foam insulating under the T&G), and waterproofing ability (limited w T&G, much better with foam). Lastly, from what we have personally observed, leak detection is very, very difficult with T&G, due to the way they are seamed. Water can enter in one location and travel clean over to the other side of your roof before entering the home. When we replaced our T&G roof, it still had 5 years to go on the warranty, which was useless, since it was impossible for the roofers to locate the source of the leaks.

One final personal bias regarding T&G is that anyone in the world who wants to can set up a T&G business. All you need is a bucket of tar and the ability to heat it. Thus there are a lot of here-today, gone-tommorw types in that business. Foam requires a pretty significant capital investment and as such, tends to attract higher-skilled craftsmen types. One caveat to this would be some of the larger, full-service roofing companies that are out there. The ones that have a large staff of Full-time EES and install many different types of roofs would be my pick, if I were looking for T&G.

Cathye

This is a question for EDWINADEROUSSE. I understand you did not have a very good
experience with the installation. (Your 11/06/03 post) I am wondering how the roof went later, in the past three years.

We are considering to install a duro-last roof for our Eichler and would appreciate if we can learn from your experience.

E-mail directly to: [email protected]

Thanks.

Kai Yue

FOR KYUE & Others
Be certain to read both my Nov. 2003 messages. I want everyone to understand there is a GREAT BIG DIFFERENCE in DuraFoam/DuroFoam (sprayed on) and Duro-Last vinyl material.

Doing it during the rainy season was bad. With any contractor, you must have it written in the contract how they cover/apply in rain and if how they have improved services.

I would never have a Tar & Gravel roof again!!. And it is so true: They only need a hot tar machine and will disappear entirely when you next need them.

Feel free to mention my name.
Edwina DeRousse

I just had my roof done by Dura-Foam in Menlo Park. The roof has been great, during the recent rain there have been no problems. The installation was also nicely done and they did cover up what was needed and cleaned up afterwards pretty well.

Just to note, I did have several roofers give bids, and while Dura-Foam was not the cheapest, I believe the slight increase is cost is worth it over the cheapest, which is tar & gravel. The whole house now feels more "solid" and there is less of the creaking during the evening due to the temperature difference that I used to have.

Also, Dura-Foam recycles the gravel from your old tar & gravel roof, so you're not contributing to land fill waste.

Happy Roofing!