Commercial Roof Replacement in Warwick, RI

There's no single right commercial roof for every building, there's the right system for your building, budget, and how the roof is used. Here's how the main options actually compare:

• TPO (thermoplastic polyolefin). A single-ply membrane, usually white, with seams heat-welded rather than glued. Reflective, which helps with cooling costs, and the welded seams hold up well over time. Read more on our TPO roofing page.
• EPDM (rubber membrane). A proven, budget-friendly single-ply system, usually black, that's been used on commercial roofs for decades. It handles New England's freeze-thaw cycles well, but it absorbs more heat than TPO and its seams are glued rather than welded, so seam quality depends heavily on installation.
• PVC. Chemically similar to TPO in how it's installed (heat-welded seams, reflective surface) but generally more resistant to chemicals, grease, and oils, which matters for restaurants and some industrial buildings. It typically costs more than TPO.
• Modified bitumen. An asphalt-based system, torch-applied or self-adhered in layers, familiar to any roofer who's worked on an older commercial building. It holds up well under foot traffic and rooftop equipment, and it's often the right call when matching an existing modified bitumen roof instead of tearing out a whole system.
• Built-up roofing (BUR). Multiple layers of asphalt and reinforcing fabric topped with gravel or a cap sheet. It's durable and has decades of track record, but it's heavier and generally more labor-intensive to install than a single-ply system.

We'll tell you which system actually fits your roof's slope, drainage, rooftop equipment, and how the building's used, after we've walked it, not before.

Not every leak means a new roof. As a general guide:

• Repair usually makes sense when the damage is isolated to one area, the roof is well within its expected service life, and the rest of the membrane, flashing, and drainage are in good shape.
• Replacement usually makes sense when leaks keep recurring in different spots, the roof is near or past the 20-30 year range typical for most commercial systems, ponding water points to a drainage problem rather than a single bad seam, or a storm has damaged enough of the roof that patching it piecemeal would cost more over time than one clean replacement.

We'll give you a straight answer after inspecting your roof, including telling you when a repair is genuinely the better move. See commercial roofing maintenance for what keeps a roof in the "repair" column longer.