Roof refurbishment looks nothing like it did 30 or 50 years ago. Where once a failing roof often meant strip-and-replace, liquid applied membranes have quietly rewritten the rulebook - extending the service life of existing roofs, reducing material waste and site disruption, and providing an alternative to full reroofing in appropriate applications.
Roof refurbishment looks nothing like it did 30 or 50 years ago. Where once a failing roof often meant strip-and-replace, liquid applied membranes have quietly rewritten the rulebook - extending the service life of existing roofs, reducing material waste and site disruption, and providing an alternative to full reroofing in appropriate applications.
When Liquid Plastics launched Decothane® in the UK in 1985, liquid-applied membranes were widely regarded as a niche roofing solution. Today, Decothane® is recognised as one of the industry’s leading systems, reflecting the growing confidence in refurbishment as a cost-effective and sustainable way to extend roof life and defer replacement.
This growth was supported by a consistent focus on quality and technical expertise, and the introduction in 2001 of the Quality Assured (QA) Contractor Programme, recognising that the long-term performance of a liquid applied roofing system depends not only on the product itself, but also on the standard of installation.
The strength of this technology and its market potential were key factors behind Sika’s acquisition of Liquid Plastics in 2009. By bringing the business into the Sika portfolio, the company strengthened its leadership in high-performance membrane systems while significantly expanding its expertise and capabilities in liquid-applied roofing and waterproofing solutions.
Investment continued in 2014 with a new R&D facility in Preston, which quickly became Sika’s Global Technology Centre for Liquid Applied Membranes: a hub for innovation that now serves markets well beyond the UK. The following year, the company launched Decothane® Ultra to coincide with the 30th anniversary of Decothane®. This low-odour range was developed to support roofing projects on buildings that remain occupied during installation.
Technical Development and Support
The company’s R&D teams continually review product performance and identify areas where product characteristics may be improved, including factors such as durability, application properties and material use. This work also considers the demands placed on roofing systems by changing environmental conditions. As periods of higher temperatures become more common, product development includes assessing the application and performance of systems under a range of installation and service conditions.
Liquid applied membranes can deliver excellent long-term performance when specified appropriately. A genuinely robust refurbishment strategy requires a full assessment of the roof as a system: the condition and type of the existing membrane, the performance of the insulation beneath it, and critically, the age, type and residual life of the fixings holding it all together. Only when these are considered together can refurbishment truly deliver the value it promises.
Sika’s expertise in seeing roofs age in the real world, not just in the lab, is why thorough, whole-system assessment, not a single test result, should sit at the heart of every refurbishment specification. Their commitment to raising standards also extends beyond the membrane itself. As a founding member of the Liquid Roofing and Waterproofing Association (LRWA), Sika participates in technical committees and supports industry training initiatives, including apprenticeship programmes. The aim is straightforward: to help close the industry’s skills gap and ensure that training keeps pace with best practice, so that the quality built into the product is matched by the quality of installation skills within the liquid roofing sector.
More than four decades after the launch of Decothane®, the company’s experience reflects the importance of several factors in roof refurbishment projects. These include product performance, installation quality, technical support, contractor competence and continued investment in research and development. Together, these elements help support the specification and installation of liquid applied roofing systems across a range of building types.
Author
Alex Coward
Head of Technical - UK
Sika UK