SPF Roofing and Texas A&M – Part 1: Environmental responsibility

One university, seven million square-feet of leaky roofs.
The year was 1974 and Texas A&M University boasted 27 campus buildings with over 7 million square-feet of tar and gravel built-up roofs (BURs). Ongoing maintenance and tear-off costs were astronomical for the Texas A&M Physical Plant Department to keep up with the demand. How do you find and fix so many leaks for roofs with only a five-year life expectancy?
Texas A&M and SPF roofing
The solution: SPF roofing. From 1980 to 1984 the university installed SPF roofs over all 27 campus buildings and saw immediate results. The newly installed SPF saved Texas A&M’s roofs and improved energy efficiency so much that the new roofs paid for themselves in less than five years!
“We sprayed over the failing BUR for a number of years, mainly due to budgetary constraints,” says Sam Cohen, Construction Project Manager, Engineering Design Services at Texas A&M. “That’s one of the advantages to SPF. And environmentally, it means all that material doesn’t end up in the landfill.” (Source)
Because of SPF’s monolithic and adhesive nature, it helped preserve the BURs material already in place. This meant no unnecessary tear-off and extended the life-cycle of the BURs. This is one of the many benefits of SPF roofing solutions: significant reduction in landfill waste. An SPF roof has a virtually limitless life-cycle with proper maintenance. With energy savings and extended life-cycles for roofs, SPF roofs are the most environmentally-friendly commercial roofing solution available today.
SPF Roofing, 30 years later
Texas A&M reports that their oldest over-BUR SPF roofs are now thirty years old and still going strong. These roofs have received little to no maintenance due to schedule demands, but are still leak-free and maintaining high energy efficiency. Our R&A Contracting team is amazed at the longevity of SPF roofs, which is why we’re St. Louis’ premium installer of SPF roofs. Whether it’s a warehouse or an office building, we can help your business receive significant energy savings with a new SPF roof.