Portola Roof Coating

A roof coating buys years back on a Portola flat roof that is weathered but still sound. Salt air, marine layer and long damp mornings keep a low-slope roof wet longer, so seams and ponding spots are where the trouble starts.

When coating is the wrong call

If we find saturated insulation or a failing deck on your Portola roof, we say so. Coating over a wet roof traps the water and costs you twice.

Details that decide a Portola roof

One person runs your job and answers the phone the whole way through.

• The quote lists materials and labour separately so you can see what you are buying.
• You get a start date and a finish date in writing, and we hold them.
• Drip edge and starter course get installed properly - that is half the wind resistance.
• We check the attic as well as the roof; half of what we find shows from underneath.

Serving Portola and nearby

We coat commercial and residential low-slope roofs throughout Portola and the surrounding San Francisco County communities, including Excelsior, Bayview and Visitacion Valley.

Lifespan and recoating

A silicone system at the right thickness over a properly prepped roof gives you ten years and up, and acrylic is close behind on a roof that drains well. Both systems are renewable: when the time comes you wash the roof and add another coat instead of starting over, which is why building owners keep coming back to them.

What we look for on a Portola roof

A coating earns its keep on a roof with these problems:

• A building that cooks in summer and runs the air conditioning hard
• A roof with years left in the deck and insulation underneath
• Flashing and penetrations that leak while the field of the roof is still solid
• Low spots that hold water for days after a storm
• Seams and laps that have opened up and started weeping

How we coat a roof in Portola

• Inspect and measure, including core tests where we need to know what is under the membrane
• Clean the roof — power wash, remove dirt, chalk and loose coating
• Repair: cracks, open seams, failed flashing, blisters and bad penetrations
• Prime where the substrate calls for it
• Apply the coating in multiple passes to the specified thickness, seams and details first
• Final walk for even coverage and thickness, then clean up the site

Pricing a Portola roof coating

Coating is priced by the square foot once we know the condition and how much prep the roof needs, and the number comes to you in writing before anything starts.

Because the work is additive, most buildings stay open and in use while we are on the roof.

Two coating systems, one right answer

• Silicone: the pick for roofs that pond. It handles standing water, resists UV without turning brittle, and lasts longest of the two.
• Acrylic: the pick for roofs that drain clean. Lower cost per square, excellent reflectivity, and easy to recoat later.
• Both go down seamless, so there are no laps or fasteners for water to work into.
• Both drop the roof surface temperature sharply, which shows up on the cooling bill of a conditioned building.

What we see on Portola roofs

Ask any crew that works San Francisco County and they will tell you the same thing - onshore wind drives rain sideways into the flashings. We are roughly 334 miles northwest of Portola, close enough for a same-day look at a leak.

Crews rotate through Excelsior, Bayview and Visitacion Valley, so the drive is routine.

• Skylights are re-flashed as part of the job rather than quoted as an extra later.
• Skylights are flashed new rather than reused, because that is where the next leak starts.
• We work around tenants and business hours where the building is occupied.
• Tear-off debris leaves the same day; nobody is left with a pile over the weekend.
• Solar gets detached and reset by a licensed crew, not improvised around.

Summer is for planned work; winter is for emergencies nobody planned. We will tell you if the roof has five years left, because that is also useful to know.

Talk to a Portola roof coating contractor

The estimate is free. Call (818) 277-6626 and we will measure your Portola roof, check the deck, seams and drains, and tell you plainly whether coating is the right call.

What this costs in Portola, honestly

Before we quote we check the deck, the ventilation, the flashings and the drainage. Three of those four are invisible from the ground, and all four decide how long the roof lasts.

When the crew leaves, the debris leaves with them: magnet passes morning and evening, gutters cleared, driveway swept. You get photos of the finished work and the warranty paperwork registered in your name.

Questions Portola owners ask us

Price follows the roof, not a rate card: access, pitch, material, how many layers come off and what the deck looks like underneath. We measure in person, show you photos and put the number in writing before anything is booked.