Elastomeric roof coating spray rig, advice?

[Paperman]

Good day, I have 12K feet under roof that needs some attention. Its mostly your basic built up roof, some has been patched in the past and one section is standard steel roofing over an addition. Quotes to get it sprayed are pretty high, $40-50K from a 3 different groups.

Im looking pretty hard at just buying a spray rig and doing the work ourselves. Looks like about $8-11K for a Gradco spray rig that can handle the thick elastomeric coatings. Anyone have any input on which rig to buy or stay away from? Am I crazy to take this on? I have all the equipment to get material and men on the roof and 3-4 guys that can help as needed.

Job seems straight forward enough. Wash and clean roof, patch obvious issues, spray and roll out coating. $10K for the rig, $15K in materials and $5k in labor if needed. What am I missing?

 

[cvairwerks]

You're lacking experience and that's a huge thing when doing it. Our church had the roof done a lot of years back. Don't know who did it, but it started having problems within a couple of months. The original company went bankrupt trying to fix the problems and it ended up costing about twice the original cost to have it fixed finally. Both of the companies involved in getting it fixed refused to even bid doing some new work on our buildings due to all the time they had to invest fixing the original one. BIL is a commercial contractor and did it for a while, but got out of it within a year or two due to all the problems with the process and people wanting to use it where it shouldn't be used.

 

[kyrbz]

Not quite same situation, but last year I was painting a block building with elastomeric masonry paint. It instantly clogged up the spray gun with its rubbery consistency. I had no luck spraying elastomeric paint and ended up rolling it on. Many years ago I painted a rubber roof with elastomeric paint. Used a roller per manufacturer’s instructions. I think the most important thing with doing the elastomeric coatings on a roof is that your roof is very clean. I power washed my roof prior to painting due to all the dust and dirt that settles in the low spots of rubber roofs. If you don’t get your roof really clean, that elastomeric paint will peel right off.

 

[bb29510]

five gallon bucket and a rollerr

 

[bb29510]

and if you was smart, kick the bucket over and wear golf shoes with plastic spikes

 

[Paperman]

I may do the bucket and roller, just feel Id get a better/more even coat thickness being sprayed.

 

[Zeke]

I wouldn't spend 10K on a new rig. Old Graco Bulldog would do that with the right gun and tip. Put some money in a rebuild kit and rent a tow behind compressor. They eat a lot of air. Not like sandblasting or jackhammers, but they need more air than you can supply in a practical manner using electric compressors unless your shop has a big 'un.

 

[Professor Fate]

In Florida only licensed roofers can do a commercial roof. You can't do it yourself even if you own the building. YMMV

 

[Zeke]

In Florida only licensed roofers can do a commercial roof. You can't do it yourself even if you own the building. YMMV

I guess if the OP is in Michigan he doesn't worry about that too much.

 

[Professor Fate]

A lot of regulations are similar across state lines. The point was (which you missed): the OP should check first before spending a bunch of money.