St. Cloud, Minnesota
Thorough Roof Coatings in St. Cloud, MN
Exterior work in five locally designated historic districts in St. Cloud falls under the city's preservation rules, and that shapes how owners downtown think about their roofs. A coating is usually the least visible thing you can do to a building: it sits flat behind a parapet, out of sight from the sidewalk, and it leaves the masonry, the cornice and the storefront untouched.
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Old downtown roofs hide what they are
Pull a core on a building in Southside or the Commercial District and you rarely find one roof. You find four: original built-up over plank deck, a mod-bit layer from the eighties, an emergency patch job and a layer of insulation somebody added in between. That is the strongest argument for coating an old commercial roof here. A tear-off means opening a hundred year old deck over an occupied building, and nobody knows what the plank is like until it is bare. Coating leaves it closed. What it will not do is fix the shallow transitions where these buildings ice up, or a parapet that is drinking water through failed coping. We handle those as separate work, and a lot of owners keep them on our maintenance plans once the coating on the field is finished.
Roof Coatings in St. Cloud
What coating solves on a St. Cloud block
Work that fits the preservation rules
All five districts, Barden Park, Pantown, Southside, Southeast and the Commercial District, put exterior work under review. We plan the job around that instead of finding out about it partway through.
Nothing changes from the sidewalk
A coated roof sits flat behind the parapet where nobody standing on the street can see it. On a designated building that matters, because the look of the block does not change at all.
No opening a century old deck
Plank decks under old built-up roofs are a gamble once they are bare, and a downtown building cannot sit open. Coating adds waterproofing without ever exposing what is underneath.
Ice at the shallow returns
These buildings have steep main pitches and nearly flat porch and dormer returns where meltwater backs up. A coating is waterproof, but it is not a fix for ice damming, and we will say so.
Parapet coping gets sealed too
More water gets into old Southside buildings through open coping joints and cracked masonry than through the field of the roof. The coating is run up and terminated properly, and the coping is addressed.
Attached buildings share their water
Downtown blocks sit wall to wall, so a bad edge on your roof becomes a wet ceiling next door. We look at both sides of a party wall before deciding where the coating stops.
How we work on old St. Cloud buildings
We work inside the district rules
Historic review is part of the schedule, not a surprise at the end. We keep the visible parts of the building out of the scope wherever we can.
We count what is already up there
Old roofs carry layers, and layers carry weight. We check what is stacked on the deck before recommending anything that adds to it.
Downtown access planned with you
Alley loading, sidewalk protection and where the hoist sits get worked out with you and the tenant before the first day, because there is no lot to spread out in.
The quote names what stays broken
If your ice damming or your coping needs separate work, it says so on the estimate. Nobody should learn in February that the coating was never going to solve it.
We watch the dew point
Downtown roofs sit in shade from taller walls and hold morning damp longer. We wait for the surface to dry rather than starting on schedule and hoping the coating bonds.
What people near St. Cloud say
Orange Exteriors did an excellent job with my new roofing install. Very professional, on time and hard working crew. Completed the job in one day.
Dick JohnsonRoof installation We live in Eden Prairie. Orange did an excellent job on our siding replacement and provided great customer service all the way through.
Thomas DeSutterSiding replacement, Eden Prairie, MN Fantastic guys to work with, did an excellent job of fixing our siding. You can tell it’s a high integrity company. Definitely recommend.
Carolyn MillerSiding repair
St. Cloud roof coating questions
What people in St. Cloud ask us about this work. If yours is not covered, call and ask.
Do I need historic approval to coat a flat roof in St. Cloud?
Ask the city, since it depends on the district and whether the work is visible. In practice a coating on a flat roof behind a parapet changes nothing anyone can see from the street, which is usually the sticking point in review. Anything at the cornice, the coping or a visible slope is a different conversation, and we will flag it.
Will a roof coating stop the ice dams on our building?
No. Ice dams come from heat escaping into the roof assembly and from meltwater stalling at the nearly flat returns these old buildings have. A coating keeps water out of the deck while the ice sits there, which helps, but the fix is air sealing, insulation and sometimes rebuilding that shallow transition.
Our downtown St. Cloud roof has several layers. Can it still be coated?
Often, yes. Layers are not automatically a problem for a coating, since we are adding a thin film rather than another roof. What matters is whether those layers are dry and whether the deck can carry what is already up there. We cut cores in several spots and check the structure before we recommend it.
Look at your downtown roof this season
Send the address and we will get on the roof, cut a core or two, and tell you whether coating fits this building or whether the district rules push you another way.
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Tell us what is going on with your roof, siding, windows, or gutters. We will take a look and give you a straight answer, including when the answer is that you can wait.
- Phone(612) 600-8529
- Emailadmin@orange-exteriors.com
- Office6600 City West Pkwy Suite 375, Eden Prairie, MN 55344
- HoursOpen 24 hours, Sunday to Saturday
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Rated 5.0 from 217 Google reviews