TPO vs EPDM vs modified bitumen on a Baton Rouge flat roof

Three membranes cover most low-slope roofs in Baton Rouge. The right one depends less on the brochure than on your roof's ponding behaviour, rooftop traffic, existing assembly and how long you intend to own the building.

TPO

A single-ply thermoplastic sheet, heat-welded at the seams, usually white. In our climate the reflectivity is the headline: a white membrane runs dramatically cooler than a black one in July, which shows up in cooling load and in the life of the insulation below it.

Good for: most retail, office and light industrial reroofs here. Watch for: installation quality, a heat-welded seam is only as good as the technician's probe test, and cheap thin-mil product weathers badly. We weld and probe every seam and document it.

EPDM

Synthetic rubber, typically black, seamed with tape or adhesive. Extremely durable against UV and hail, forgiving of movement, and easy to repair years later.

Good for: roofs with heavy foot traffic or lots of penetrations, and owners who value repairability over reflectivity. Watch for: heat gain. A black membrane in Louisiana sun is a real cooling penalty unless it is ballasted or coated.

Modified bitumen

Asphalt-based sheet in two or more plies, torch-, hot-mopped- or cold-adhered. It is the closest thing to the old built-up roof, and its redundancy is the point: two plies means one breach is not a leak.

Good for: roofs that pond, roofs with a history of abuse, and recovers over existing bitumen assemblies. Watch for: weight, and torch safety on occupied buildings, we use cold-adhered or self-adhered systems where a torch is a bad idea.

Coatings are not a fourth membrane

Silicone and acrylic coatings extend a sound roof; they do not fix a saturated one. If a moisture survey shows wet insulation, coating over it traps the water and buys you a more expensive tear-off later. We survey first and tell you which situation you are actually in.

How we decide on your building

We core the existing assembly, check for saturation, measure slope and drainage, look at penetrations and rooftop equipment, and ask how long you plan to hold the asset. Then we quote one recommendation with reasons, plus an alternate if the budget case is genuinely close.

Detail on systems and warranties is on our flat roofing page, and if you already have water coming in, emergency leak response runs after hours so your tenants are not displaced. Request a bid when you are ready for numbers.