We verify the deck can carry the added weight of a recover assembly.
We map drainage, because Harris County drainage expectations and ponding both bear on how the new insulation is sloped and tapered. Tapered insulation and drainage
Insulation Recovery Board in Houston, TX
- The layers you never see underneath a membrane decide how a commercial roof performs through a Gulf Coast summer and how long it survives a hailstorm. We install rigid insulation and recovery board systems that raise the thermal value of the assembly, give the membrane a flat and uniform substrate, and add a layer of physical protection between the weather and the structural deck. On the large flat and low-slope roofs that cover warehouses, retail centers, and office buildings across Harris County, getting this part right is the difference between a roof that lasts its full service life and one that telegraphs every fastener and seam within a few years.
- What insulation and recovery board actually do
- A commercial roof is an assembly, not a single product. Above the metal or concrete deck sits insulation, often a cover board, and then the waterproofing membrane. Each piece has a job. The insulation controls heat flow and gives the assembly its R-value. The cover board, sometimes called a recovery board, is a thin high-density layer that sits directly under the membrane and protects it from impact, foot traffic, and the dimensional movement of the insulation below.
- Skip the cover board to save a few cents per square foot and you expose the membrane to every hard point underneath it. On a building that bakes under intense Texas sun for eight months a year, the insulation expands and contracts, fasteners back out, and a thin membrane laid straight over softer insulation starts to show ridges and stress cracks. The recovery board absorbs that punishment.
- Polyiso, the workhorse for our climate
- Polyisocyanurate, or polyiso, is the insulation we specify most often on Houston commercial roofs. It delivers one of the highest R-values per inch of any rigid board, which matters when cooling load drives the utility bill for most of the year here. It is compatible with the single-ply and built-up systems common on local buildings, and it bonds well in both mechanically attached and fully adhered assemblies. We size the thickness to meet or exceed current Texas energy code and to hit whatever target R-value the building owner or the lender is asking for.
- Cover boards that carry the load
- For the cover board layer we typically use high-density polyiso or a gypsum-based board, depending on the membrane and the fire rating the assembly needs. Gypsum cover boards add real impact resistance and contribute to the fire performance of the system, which is worth serious attention on the dense industrial roofs along the Ship Channel. High-density polyiso cover boards add R-value while still giving the membrane the firm, dimensionally stable surface it needs to be welded or adhered to.
- Why this layer matters so much in Houston
Roof planning guidance
Three local realities push insulation and recovery board from a nice-to-have to a necessity. Hail. Greater Houston sits in a corridor that takes damaging hail nearly every spring. A membrane backed by a rigid cover board resists puncture from hail far better than the same membrane laid over compressible insulation alone. Many insurers recognize this, and the right substrate can affect how a roof holds up to a claim. Heat and cooling cost. With high temperatures running from spring into October and humidity that keeps air conditioning working overtime, the R-value of the roof assembly is a year-round line item. Adding insulation thickness during a recover or replacement is the cheapest time to improve the building's thermal envelope.
Schedule a roof review
Wind uplift. Hurricane season runs June through November, and the wind it brings tries to peel a roof apart from the edges and corners inward. How the insulation and cover board are fastened or adhered is central to the uplift rating of the whole assembly. We detail the attachment to the wind zone the building sits in, with denser fastening patterns at perimeters and corners.
Recover versus tear-off
One of the most useful things a recovery board enables is a roof recover. When an existing roof is at the end of its membrane life but the deck and much of the insulation are still sound, we can sometimes install a new cover board and membrane directly over the old system rather than tearing everything down to the deck. That avoids the disruption, dumpster cost, and exposure risk of a full tear-off, and it keeps the building dry through the work.
A recover is not always the right call. Texas building code limits a roof to a set number of membrane layers, and if the existing assembly holds trapped moisture, a recover would seal that water in. We always run a moisture survey before recommending a recover. If the insulation below is wet, it has to come out. We are straight with owners about which path the roof actually needs.
How we evaluate an existing assembly
We core the roof to confirm the number of existing layers and the deck type.
Roof planning notes
Roof Scope Notes
A substrate built for the membrane that follows
Flat is never truly flat, and standing water is the enemy of a commercial membrane. Ponding accelerates aging, breeds growth, and adds dead load. Where a roof drains poorly, we design a tapered insulation layout that builds positive slope toward drains and scuppers using the insulation itself. On a region that sees the kind of sustained, heavy rainfall that came with Hurricane Harvey in 2017, moving water off the roof quickly is not a detail to leave to chance. Tapered systems are engineered to a slope, usually a quarter inch per foot or better, and we lay out crickets to break up large fields and steer water around curbs and equipment. Talk with a Houston commercial roofing team