Recover adds a new roofing system over the existing one without full tear-off. It costs roughly half of replacement and carries a full manufacturer warranty — when the substrate qualifies. The qualification process is the work.

A roof recover is not a shortcut. It is a legitimate scope when the existing roof's insulation is dry, the deck is sound, and the existing system is not so deteriorated that it cannot serve as a stable substrate for the new assembly. When those conditions are met, recover extends the building's roofing asset by 15 to 25 years at approximately 45 to 55 percent of full replacement cost. Manufacturer NDL warranty coverage is available on recover assemblies from every major single-ply manufacturer.

When those conditions are not met — wet insulation, failed deck, or an existing roof so far deteriorated that it cannot provide a stable base — recover is the wrong scope. We pull moisture cores before we recommend anything. The data drives the decision, not the economics of which scope is easier to sell.

We have installed recover systems on retail strip centers along the TCU corridor, warehouse buildings off the I-30 Spur in east Fort Worth, and mid-rise office buildings in the Berry Street corridor near Texas Wesleyan University. We have also walked away from recover proposals on buildings where the core data showed that replacement was the only defensible answer. We document both.

The Moisture Core Protocol — How We Qualify the Recover Path

We pull a minimum of one core per 10,000 square feet of roof area, plus one core at every area of visible deflection, soft-spotting, or visible interior leak staining. Core locations are documented on the roof zone diagram and photographed at every pull. Each core is inspected in the field for insulation moisture content — we probe the insulation with a capacitance meter and record the reading at every core location.

Our threshold for recover eligibility: fewer than 20 percent of cores reading wet. Above that threshold, we recommend replacement with targeted wet-insulation removal and replacement before the new membrane goes down. That 20 percent figure comes from the major manufacturers' recover warranty requirements — if we exceed it and install a recover anyway, the warranty inspection will fail.

Core pulls take approximately two to four hours on a 50,000 sq ft roof. The cores are patched with compatible material immediately after pulling. The written core report is delivered within 24 hours of the roof walk. For owners who need to make a capital allocation decision before a board meeting, we schedule core pulls so the report is in hand before the meeting date.

Cover Board Selection and Recover Design

A recover assembly requires a cover board over the existing membrane in most configurations — partly for fire code compliance, partly to provide a stable attachment substrate for the new membrane, and partly to add R-value to the existing insulation stack. The cover board choices are high-density (HD) polyiso, HD gypsum (DensDeck or equivalent), and wood fiberboard. Each has trade-offs.

HD polyiso cover board adds R-value (R-6.5 per inch typically), is compatible with both mechanically attached and fully adhered membranes, and is the most common cover board for Fort Worth commercial recover work. HD gypsum (DensDeck) adds no R-value but provides superior fire resistance, better dimensional stability in humid conditions, and better impact resistance under rooftop traffic — it's the cover board we specify when hail-resistance rating is a priority or when the building is in a high foot-traffic-on-roof category.

The new membrane over the cover board is specified by the same criteria as a full replacement: building use, TPO 60-mil or 80-mil mechanically attached is the standard Fort Worth recover membrane. Fully adhered systems are specified for buildings where the recover assembly needs to qualify for a higher FM uplift class. We produce the full design package — cover board layout, fastener pattern, membrane specification, and manufacturer warranty path — before contract signing.

What Recover Cannot Fix

Recover cannot fix inadequate drainage. If the existing roof has ponding water zones due to drain layout or insufficient slope, adding a recover assembly on top compounds the problem. We include a drain inspection in every recover assessment and require that drain modifications or tapered cover board to correct ponding be included in the recover scope before we will sign off on the manufacturer warranty application.

Recover cannot fix failed parapet walls. If the parapet walls are cracked, have failed brick ties, or are separating from the roof deck at the base, that is a structural condition that has to be addressed before the new flashing system is tied in. We document parapet condition in the recover assessment and identify any parapet work that has to be completed as a pre-condition for the roofing scope.

Recover is limited by code: most jurisdictions, including the City of Fort Worth, limit buildings to one recover layer over an existing roof before full tear-off is required. Buildings that have already had one recover layer are replacement-only on the next cycle. We check the permit history before recommending recover to confirm the building is not already at its code limit.

Considering a recover for a Fort Worth commercial building?

We will pull moisture cores, document the substrate, and deliver a written recover-vs-replace recommendation with the core data and the cost comparison in hand before you make any capital commitment.