What It Is
What's actually under there
The layer cake description is accurate, not just a catchy line. Here's what's actually stacked underneath the surface you can see.
UV Exposed
Cap Sheet Or Gravel Surface
The layer that takes the brunt of sun and weather first, and shows wear before anything underneath does.
The Structure
Bitumen Saturated Felt Plies
Multiple layers built up for waterproofing redundancy, that's where "built up" comes from.
Foundation
Base Sheet And Deck
What everything above is actually anchored to.
How It Works
A primer step most coatings skip
Asphaltic surfaces need a compatible primer before coating, not every coating system bonds to bitumen without one. The process starts with a clean, repairs any blistering or surface cracking first, then primes and coats.
Find out if your BUR or modified bitumen roof qualifies for recover.
What It Costs And How Long It Lasts
Recover costs less than stripping the layers
Recover costs a fraction of removing every ply down to the deck and starting over. How long it lasts depends on how much of the layer cake underneath is still sound, not just the new surface on top.
FAQ
Straight answers
What's alligatoring?
Surface cracking that looks like reptile skin, caused by UV exposure drying out the asphalt over time. It's cosmetic until it isn't, cracks that go deep enough let water in.
Does this work on gravel surfaced roofs?
[ Placeholder: confirm whether gravel needs removal before coating, with Justin before this goes live. ]
Is modified bitumen the same as BUR?
Related but not identical. BUR is built from multiple separate felt plies. Modified bitumen is a polymer enhanced asphalt sheet, fewer layers, applied differently. Both get grouped together here because they age and recover the same way.
The layers are still doing their job, the surface just needs help
Seal what's cracking before it becomes what's leaking.
A built-up or modified bitumen roof showing its age isn't automatically a tear off. If the structure underneath is still sound, recovering the surface buys real years without stripping decades of layered waterproofing back to bare deck.