TPO · Fully Adhered
75,000 sqft Cold Storage Facility
Sqft75K
System80-mil TPO FA
Timeline10 days
Commercial EPDM roofing Durham NC — commercial EPDM roofing for Durham, Raleigh, Cary, Charlotte, Asheville. Licensed Firestone RubberGard and Carlisle Sure-Seal applicators installing 60-mil and 90-mil EPDM rubber membrane for manufacturing plants, agricultural processing, warehouses, and solar-integrated commercial roofs across NC, SC, GA, TN. Tape-seamed or fully-adhered, realistic 40-year service life.
A licensed PM has your request. We'll reach out within 24 business hours — typically sooner. If your roof is actively leaking, call (866) 487-8572 for same-day response.
Ethylene Propylene Diene Monomer — EPDM — has been installed on commercial flat roofs in North America since 1962. That's 64 years of field performance data, which is longer than TPO has existed as a product and longer than most commercial buildings stand. The original Firestone RubberGard installations from the late 1970s are still in service today. No other single-ply membrane has that track record.
EPDM is a thermoset rubber — chemically cross-linked during manufacturing — which means it handles UV, ozone, and thermal-cycling stress through molecular stability rather than thickness alone. Where TPO membranes can experience polymer degradation from UV plasticizer migration after 20 years, EPDM retains its elasticity almost indefinitely. The failure modes on EPDM roofs are seam-related or mechanical, not material-chemistry related.
We install EPDM on roofs where the decision criteria prioritize maximum service life over energy-rebate capture. That includes agricultural processing plants in rural NC and SC where cooling load isn't the operating cost driver, solar-integrated commercial roofs where EPDM's black surface performs better under arrays than reflective TPO, heavy-manufacturing facilities with rooftop mechanical density, and cold storage where the fully-adhered EPDM creates a cleaner vapor barrier than TPO at attachment penetrations. For owners who plan to hold a commercial building 25+ years, the EPDM NPV typically beats TPO — even before reflective TPO's cooling-load savings.
Installed cost runs $7–11 per square foot for 60-mil EPDM with standard tear-off, R-25 insulation, and mechanical attachment. Ranges below reflect bid data across NC, SC, GA, TN. 90-mil upgrade adds $0.90–1.40/sqft; fully-adhered installations add $1.25–2.00/sqft.
Every EPDM install follows a six-phase workflow built around NRCA single-ply manual specifications and OSHA 1910.28 fall protection. The difference between a 40-year EPDM roof and an 18-year EPDM roof is almost always in the seam detailing and drainage design at step four — our process spends proportional time there.
Drone survey, 2 moisture-probe cores per 10,000 sqft, fastener-integrity pull-testing on the existing deck, penetration catalog (HVAC curbs, drains, vents, expansion joints), and structural weight analysis for recover-vs-tear-off decision. Detailed bid in 48 hours with EPDM thickness recommendation, seam method, attachment type, and manufacturer warranty option.
Existing roof removed (or properly prepped for recover). Insulation board installed to target R-value — R-25 minimum for NC climate zone 4A per ASHRAE 90.1, R-30 for cold storage, R-38 for food processing. Cover board (1/2" HD polyiso or fiberboard) laid over insulation to distribute foot traffic load and protect against mechanical damage.
EPDM membrane rolled out in 10-foot or 20-foot widths, positioned with 3-inch minimum overlap at seams. Fully-adhered: bonding adhesive applied to both membrane and substrate, rolled smooth with weighted roller. Mechanically-attached: plates and screws on a 12-inch or 18-inch grid per wind-uplift calc.
Field seams cleaned with solvent primer, factory-vulcanized splice tape applied to cover both laps, rolled with steel hand-roller at 30 psi. Every penetration flashed with pre-molded EPDM boots or field-fabricated wraps — each flashing detail hand-inspected and liquid-seal-applied over seam edges for 15-year realistic service life.
Every seam probe-tested with a T-handle seam probe at 4-foot intervals. Any membrane void detected gets patched with primed splice tape and re-probed. Final moisture-scan survey documents no trapped substrate moisture before warranty registration. Photos of every penetration and seam delivered to the building owner.
Firestone, Carlisle, or JM NDL warranty registered in the building owner's name (up to 30 years depending on system and thickness). Digital as-built drawings, full photo set, manufacturer warranty certificate, and annual maintenance schedule delivered with a walk-through.
Industrial, manufacturing, and agricultural-processing EPDM projects completed across NC, SC, GA, and TN. Firestone and Carlisle NDL warranties registered with every install.
TPO has been winning the single-ply market share war since 2005 because reflective roofing became a code-favored pathway for energy compliance. But EPDM still beats TPO for specific applications, and understanding when is how we spec honestly.
Solar-integrated commercial roofs favor EPDM because the black surface doesn't experience the polymer-aging issues TPO suffers under partial shade. Our manufacturing clients running rooftop solar on 50,000+ sqft plants typically spec 90-mil EPDM fully-adhered under the array footprint with mechanical attachment in non-array zones.
Agricultural processing in rural NC, SC, and GA favors EPDM because the reflective-roof energy rebate is a smaller lever than on urban manufacturing — the buildings aren't as HVAC-dependent, and EPDM's longer life wins on 30-year NPV. Same math for heritage commercial where building owners plan multi-generational holds.
Cold storage and food processing — we go fully-adhered regardless of membrane choice, but EPDM with liquid-splice-sealed seams and 90-mil thickness delivers a cleaner vapor barrier than TPO at every mechanical penetration. For USDA-certified food processing facilities, that matters.
40-year single-ply for the roof that has to outlive you. Firestone RubberGard, Carlisle Sure-Seal, and Johns Manville applications with NDL warranty. Line-item bid in 48 hours.