EPDM at 60-mil remains the right choice for Fort Worth industrial buildings with high rooftop mechanical traffic. We install, recover, and replace EPDM systems — including the large 1990s install base across Tarrant County that is now at or past end-of-life.

EPDM — ethylene propylene diene monomer — is a synthetic rubber membrane that dominated commercial flat roofing across Fort Worth from the mid-1980s through the early 2000s. A lot of that inventory is still in service. The buildings along East Loop 820, the older warehouse district near the T&P Rail Market, and the mid-century industrial stock in the Riverside neighborhood carry EPDM roofs installed in 1993, 1996, 1999 — systems now 25 to 30 years old and running past the end of their design life.

We work with EPDM in two modes. On aging systems, we inspect, document, and make the recover-versus-replace call with the owner. On new installations, EPDM at 60-mil is still the right specification for Fort Worth industrial buildings where heavy mechanical traffic, chemical exposure from rooftop equipment, or the need for a single-ply membrane in a ballasted configuration makes EPDM a better fit than TPO.

The honest thing to say about 30-year-old EPDM: the membrane itself often looks acceptable to the naked eye while the seams and flashings have delaminated underneath. EPDM seams are bonded with adhesive — they do not heat-weld the way TPO does — and adhesive bonds degrade over time, especially through repeated freeze-thaw. We probe every seam we can reach during inspection, not just the ones showing visible defects.

EPDM Installation Configurations for Fort Worth Buildings

Ballasted EPDM uses smooth river stone — typically 10-12 lbs per square foot of 1.5-inch stone — to hold the membrane down without mechanical fasteners or adhesive. It was the dominant configuration for large-format industrial buildings in Fort Worth through the 1990s because it was fast to install and worked well on flat-deck buildings with minimal penetrations. The stone protects the membrane from UV and hail but adds 10-12 lbs per square foot of dead load to the structural deck. We verify structural capacity before any ballasted recovery or new ballasted specification.

Mechanically attached EPDM uses batten strips and fasteners driven through the membrane and insulation into the deck. It eliminates the ballast dead load and performs better in high-wind conditions. We specify mechanically attached for Fort Worth industrial buildings in open terrain — west Tarrant County in particular — where ballast can mobilize under uplift pressure in a severe storm.

Fully adhered EPDM is bonded across the full field with manufacturer-approved adhesive. It carries the cleanest aesthetics, performs best in hail events (no unsupported membrane between fastener rows), and is required for some specialty geometries. It is also the most labor-intensive installation configuration. We specify fully adhered on buildings where the application requires it, not as a default.

The 1990s EPDM End-of-Life Problem in Fort Worth

The Fort Worth commercial real estate boom of the 1990s put a large volume of EPDM roofs on buildings that are now 25-35 years old. These systems were installed with adhesive-bonded seams and lap flashings. The seam adhesive has a design life of 15-20 years. Most of these roofs are now leaking at seams and flashings even if the field membrane still looks intact.

The recover decision on a 1990s EPDM system depends on core results. If the insulation is dry, a mechanically attached TPO or EPDM recover over the existing system is viable and economical — you get a new warranted membrane without the cost of full tear-off and insulation replacement. If the insulation is wet — common on systems that have been seam-leaking for multiple seasons — full replacement is the honest scope. We've seen too many Fort Worth buildings take a recover on saturated insulation, get the new membrane warrantied, and then discover 3 years later that the saturated insulation was trapping moisture against the deck and causing deck corrosion. The core results drive the scope.

Have a Fort Worth building with aging EPDM?

We will walk the roof, probe seams, pull moisture cores, and give you a written recover-or-replace recommendation with cost comparison — no commitment required.