Tomorrow's roofing for today's roofs

Today, the professional roofer can broaden his range of roofing materials. Besides the familiar bitumen that he has processed for years, there is a nice alternative available: EPDM. This material offers many advantages, such as being very environmentally friendly, extremely long life, clean processing and a high degree of fire safety. We speak with Alphons van der Weerden, national account manager projects, on behalf of CPE and responsible for marketing Firestone RubberGard EPDM.

"In order to properly market the products and roofing systems, Firestone in the Netherlands works closely with CPE Netherlands as a distributor. Together, opportunities are sought, authorized processors are trained and supported. Projects are also supervised from start to finish in order to relieve clients of their worries," Alphons opens the conversation.

The rubber specialist par excellence

Firestone Building Products is a leading manufacturer of high-quality EPDM and TPO roofing systems for commercial, industrial and residential roofs. Completely customized roofing systems according to the application of the roof, for example roofs with PV systems or green roofs. We recently introduced a specification service that allows specifiers to easily and quickly compile customized specifications depending on the function of the roof. This also includes a visualization of the selected roof system.

Long-term profits

Firestone RubberGard EPDM is slightly more expensive than traditional bitumen, but in return the material has a proven 40-year service life and a life expectancy of 50 years. This far exceeds the lifespan of bitumen. At the bottom line, you put less strain on the environment and the Total Cost of Ownership are lower, so there are long-term gains on both counts as well. When one applies a matched Firestone RubberGard EPDM roofing system, it far exceeds the lifetime of the PV system.

The benefits at a glance

The benefits of Firestone RubberGard EPDM include extreme UV resistance, very low environmental impact and no open flame application. The production process of Firestone RubberGard EPDM is also sustainable and takes place in accordance with ISO 14001. Alphons: "Also during renovations, a layer of Firestone RubberGard EPDM can be applied on top of the existing bitumen covering, on top of additional insulation boards and/or fire resistant separation boards. The possibilities are endless!"

Independent tailored advice

CPE Nederland and Firestone, after taking stock of the program of requirements and the available budget, always provide a tailored advice that includes the technical solutions of the roofing systems. This project-based approach, with the client's interests as the starting point, allows CPE Nederland and Firestone to distinguish themselves.

Creating awareness

It doesn't matter how big a client or project is to CPE and Firestone. Providing information is particularly important. "CPE and Firestone like to come to the table early on, as early as the architect, for example. We like to help everyone get on the road to better as efficiently as possible. Bringing in information early allows the architect to make the right choice and integrate the chosen solution into the project."

The customer's word

"It's a nationally known problem: solar panels on the roof causing fires." Speaking is Hans van der Doelen, owner of Van der Doelen Management and Advice in Nuland. In the preparation of a project -new construction Kusters Precision Parts in Oss- the starting points included a roof system consisting of PIR insulation with PVC roofing. Because almost the entire roof will be equipped with a PV installation, the roof covering was changed to Firestone RubberGard EPDM thickness 1.5mm because of its proven lifespan.

"During construction, the issue of fire insurance in the presence of a PV system on the roof became increasingly clear. Finding the solution was less easy, as relevant legislation for this is lacking. Time to discuss with the client, the insurer's intermediary, CPE Netherlands and Eddy Harthoorn, Business Development Manager Netherlands at Firestone, what the minimum requirements were and the possible solutions. In consultation, a proven, above-average quality solution was selected, which has been in use in the USA for some time and has been tested and approved by FM Approvals in this application. This creates a proven fire-safe application that is a safe choice for the owner and immediately acceptable and insurable in the short and long term for the insurer involved. 

The selected roof system, which includes Firestone RESISTA AK PIR insulation, a non-combustible DensDeck Prime deck plate 12.7 mm and a fully bonded RubberGard EPDM, thickness 1.5mm, meets all the relevant properties that you can expect as a client, such as proven lifespan that exceeds that of the PV installation, environmental friendliness, walkability, fire safety and a stable substrate for solar panels."

All in all, this meant a higher initial investment for the client, but one that resulted in full insurance coverage and a fire-safe situation on the roof. "What people need to realize is that not being properly insured against fire damage often means jeopardizing business continuity. By choosing a fire-safe roof system, you save yourself the potential for great suffering. As a building management company, I already had experience with CPE Nederland and Firestone and I fully support the roof system chosen," Van der Doelen concludes.

For those with further concrete and project-related questions, please contact Mr. Eddy Harthoorn via e-mail: info@fbpe.nl or telephone: + 31 6 53 53 47 55 or with Alphons van der Weerden via e-mail: awe@cpe.nl or telephone: + 31 6 53 25 73 49