Bitumen Roof Shrinkage

Roof shrinkage is no easy matter to deal with.

Bitumen roof shrinkage.

Shrinkage of a membrane often damages base flashings or the roof edge assembly leading to water infiltration. The swelling of the underside of the shingle is commonly due to the migration of excessive amounts of airborne moisture from the attic spaces through the roof deck and into the bottom surface of the shingle. Thanks to technological advancements and improvements to epdm roofs though shrinkage has diminished significantly. The installation process known as torch on roofing is often used on commercial.

The shrinkage of the top surface is commonly due to normal aging and weathering of the shingle over the years. Its causes include aging of the material poor installation and uv exposure. An organic felt or fiberglass mat saturated with asphalt and faced with granular stone aggregate. A few decades ago unreinforced rubber roof systems were plagued by shrinkage problems but thanks to technological advancements and improvements to epdm roofs the problems have diminished.

Methods recommended for preventing shrinkage include adhesion of the whole roofing system and peripheral attachment of the membrane to the deck. The material is based on the same materials used in asphalt shingles. While roof shrinkage technically involves parts of the roof shrinking to an extent it rarely makes your roof look visibly smaller. The more obvious sign of roof shrinkage are highly visible gaps running along the seams where the roofing surface rolls were initially laid out.