Gaco Gr1626-5 5Gallon Green Gacoroof Silicone Roof Coating

This product works as advertised. I have stopped roof leaks that has plagued me for years. It works on any roof surface. I will buy it again and again as I need it.

I really think this is a good product (I have no connection to the company). However, surface preparation is absolutely critical. Watch their video tutorials. I had the material professionally installed just one year ago and it is failing completely. I am convinced this is due to laughably inadequate surface prep. The bottom line, quite simply, is that I was cheated by an unscrupulous roofer. My advice - surface prep is everything, and if you are having it "professionally" installed, be looking over their shoulder constantly. Thank you.

We are seeing bubbles coming up under the coating.

This was over a failed torch down roof. I power washed and then applied Gaco with a roller. Some sections of roof got two coats, other section three coats. One of the problems is going over flashing. Metal flashing expands on heating and contracts on cooling, eventually breaking the Gaco seal. This can be dealt with by using a nylon mesh, bridging the gap and coating with Gaco. Also the overlapped seams of the torch down fail and break the Gaco seam, probably on the same expanding/contracting principle. The Gaco product has difficulty in bridging gaps-Even when coating the aforementioned nylon mesh it takes up to three coats to fill all the tiny squares. The specifications call for a 22 mil thick skin. A thousand square feet would take theoretically 15 gallons of Gaco, but on rough surfaces it takes a lot more than that.- I am paying $350.00 for a five gallon container. I can only get Gaco green in five gallon containers and after opening it has about a four month shelf life. A local handyman got one leak free year from a roof he did with Gaco and then it leaked in four separate locations in the first rains of the year. For problem flat roofs like this one go with a single ply membrane like vinyl or TPO. It is more expensive initially but gives better long term service. Gaco has been an expensive failure.

I'm using silicone coatings over sprayed polyurethane flat roof.A couple of things:1) Yes, Gaco offers a ridiculously long guarantee on this product BUT only if it is applied by a contractor licensed by Gaco. Good luck collecting on this warranty.2) The Gaco material dries hard and brittle, not soft and stretchy as one would expect from silicone.3) It is quite costly. I have received at least one 5 gallon pail that was half hardened with large hard clumps that would not stir in. Was cheerfully replaced by distributor.4) I have used Rustoleum Silicone Roof Coat, a similar and in my opinion much superior product. Slightly less costly, much more stretchy after it dries.NOTE that NO product of this kind is a substitute for a proper roof repair. If the substrate has large defects or moves around a lot with changing temperatures you can literally pour thousands of dollars worth of roof paint on it and see the same or new defects appear after each freeze/thaw cycle. Clean surface is essential for a good job, and I prefer to apply with a stiff bristle brush and 'scrub' the paint onto the cleaned surface (very labor intensive). Applying with spray or roller typically does not result in good adhesion on a weathered surface, allowing the coating to bubble up or peel off and allowing water to travel under the coating. Some roofs will require a primer coat for proper adhesion of either the Gaco or the Rustoleum product. Both do a good job when applied over a newly sprayed polyurethane roof - BUT NOTE that most urethane roof appliers will not spray another coat of urethane over ANY silicone product, since silicone is one of the few things that urethane will not adhere to. This can make repairs more costly if it is necessary to respray the urethane foam. Most urethane foam roofers today use an acrylic top coat. This top coat is intended only to keep sun off the underlying foam - not to stop water. Silicone coatings can fix some sprayed foam roof defects, but in a proper foam roof it is the foam and not the silicone top coat that is intended to stop the water.

EASY TO SPREAD, GOOD COLOR, STOPED MY ROOF LEAKS

We are primarily a residential roofing company, but from time to time, do a commercial roofing job. I have always used Truco's elastomeric roof coating, but at the prodding of my roofing supply house I gave GACO Roof a try. This is a product that is indeed a waterproofing membrane but it seems to be very fragile. Even after 20 days of curing I can dig my fingernail into it and pull a piece off. It has bonded to the surface below, and I am not pulling it off the surface, but actually pulling the product apart. When I called the tech support, I was simply told "sorry, you must have applied it incorrectly, and you are simply not getting a good bond to the material over which it was applied". I then reviewed the samples that I got at my supply house and from their local rep-and sure enough, even the samples provided by the company, made in a lab under perfect conditions are a bit fragile-you can easily dig into it with a car key. Not that the product HAS failed, but when they say that it is NOT a surface that is trafficable, they mean it. I will say that it looks nice after a rain with all the droplets beading, but I have grave concerns about the product, and given the initial "not our problem-must be installer error" result from the tech support dept at GACO I fear that this company knows the products limitations but still sells it anyway. As a professional who actually backs up what I sell and install, I would say-install at your own risk, do not believe the warranty-if the product fails, I fear that you WILL be swinging in the wind alone. Gaco Gr1600 5g Gacoroof Silicone Roof Coating