Los Angeles County, California
Roof Coatings and Restoration in Los Angeles
A coating goes on last. The roof gets surveyed, dried out and repaired first, and the membrane covers the finished work.
Free, and there is no obligation to go ahead.
- Free roof inspection
Someone comes out, gets on the roof, and tells you what they find.
- The price in writing
A written quote before anyone starts, with nothing to sign on the day.
- Licensed roofers
The roofer who turns up holds a current California license.
- Across Los Angeles County
From the Valley and the foothills to the Westside and the South Bay.
A coating goes on last. The roof gets surveyed, dried out, repaired and prepared first, and the membrane covers the finished work. The Roof Coatings Manufacturers Association describes these products as "designed for protecting and extending the useful service life of roof assemblies."
RCMA calls the cured film the roof's first layer of UV and waterproofing protection. A coating will not find your leak. RCMA says not to expect a coating to find and seal leaks, so the leak gets identified and repaired before anything is sprayed.
Tell us what the roof is doing and we can arrange for a licensed roofer to look at it. There is no obligation to go ahead.
- What it isA liquid membrane over a low-slope roof that still works
- When it is wrongWet insulation, failed seams, or a deck that has gone
- Order of workSurvey, dry out, repair, prepare, adhesion test, then coat
- The warrantyThe coating manufacturer issues it, and only to applicators on its list
Silicone or acrylic
In this county the choice turns on whether water sits at the drains after the winter rain, and on how much dirt the coating carries through the dry months, since dirt takes down the reflectance the energy code asks about.
RCMA describes acrylic as a "liquid-applied, monolithic (seamless), fully adhered, elastomeric membrane" at 15 to 30 mils, and says it is "not a paint." ASTM D6083 and D6694 say what the material has to be. Neither covers the finished system.
- Silicone and water.Silicone is the usual choice where water sits at the drains after the rain.
- Silicone and dirt.Silicone picks up dirt as it ages, dirt cuts reflectance, and Los Angeles goes months with no rain to wash it off.
- Silicone is a commitment.Once a roof is siliconed, every recoat after it has to be silicone too.
- Acrylic and water.Acrylic is water-based, and RCMA says standing water "could accelerate their degradation." IIBEC puts the question as wet adhesion, meaning how well the coating sticks to a substrate that has been wet.
When a coating is the wrong answer
RCMA sets the limit. "If the roof is too badly deteriorated, wet internally, or if the deck is rotted or badly corroded, the coating will not perform as intended."
The order of work is fixed: moisture survey, replace wet insulation, repair sheet metal, repair flashings, prepare the surface, adhesion tests, then the membrane. A scan only marks where to cut, and the test cuts confirm it.
Wet insulation comes out before anything is sprayed, and the roof has to be clear of standing water when the work starts. Ask the bidder which spec they are working to and what its thresholds are, because that decides how much insulation leaves the roof. Drainage correction comes first, priced on the costs page.
Preparation decides whether it sticks
Every coating spec makes the roof pass an adhesion test before the membrane goes on. Wash pressure and drying time come off the manufacturer's spec, and the roof has to be dry before the test. In Los Angeles the marine layer decides that window, since a roof that looks dry can still be holding fog water from overnight.
Manufacturer warranties are written in mils
Manufacturers tie the warranty term to the thickness of the film, so a longer term means more coating on the roof. Ask the bidder what mil thickness sits behind the term quoted, and get that number on the proposal instead of the term alone.
A coating warranty covers the coating failing, not the roof underneath it. The coating manufacturer issues that warranty. We do not. A manufacturer will only issue one when the company spraying the roof is on its own approved list, so ask any bidder to show you their approval before counting on it.
Get the ponding language on the warranty itself. RCMA says some coatings are built to stand ponding conditions and some are not, so the product named on the warranty and the exclusion have to match before the order goes in. More on the commercial roofing page.
Title 24 asks for the aged number
Data sheets publish two reflectance numbers. Title 24 asks for the three-year aged reflectance, the lower of the two, and that number carries through to the compliance paperwork. Thresholds are on the replacement page.
What changes the price
There is no published price band for coating work. What moves the number is roof size and access, the substrate, how much wet insulation comes out, the seam and flashing repair on the list, and the mil thickness the manufacturer requires for the term it will warrant. Drains lowered or added fall under a different license classification and get priced separately. More on the costs page.
Common questions
What gets repaired before the coating goes on?
Failed seams get taped, backed-out fasteners get replaced, and split flashings get rebuilt. RCMA puts the leak repair before any recoating. More on roof repair.
How many years does a coating buy?
RCMA's figure is that a properly applied coating extends roof life "up to 10 years or more." The manufacturer terms are warranty lengths tied to mil thickness. They do not say how long the coating will last. More coating can go on later.
Is a coating a cheaper replacement?
NRCA lists field-applied coatings as a surfacing option and as maintenance and repair work. See commercial roof replacement for when the roof is past that.
The offer
$500 off a new roof, 10% off any repair
Start online and it is attached to your request, with nothing to remember.
- We get on the roof, and into the attic if that is where the answer is
- You get photographs of whatever we find
- The price in writing, with nothing to sign on the day
Where we work
Across Los Angeles County
Tell us what is going on
A description is enough to start. We will come out, look at the roof properly, and give you the price in writing.