The finished restoration of Oklahoma City College

A Great Collaborative Chance for Subcontractors Specializing in PVC Roofing who Value Craftsmanship.

Introduction of a Typical RenoSys Project to a Single Ply PVC Roofing SubContractor.

Exciting news! We’re thrilled to offer you the opportunity to join forces with us on tackling our growing list of projects. In fact, we often have more work than our in-house crews can handle, and that’s where you come in. If you’re all about delivering top-notch craftsmanship, we have an exciting opportunity for you – join forces with our seasoned PVC Roofing Teams and take your skills to the next level!

You’ll be happy to know that all the projects we present to you will already have a secured contract with us. That means no more wasted time bidding on potential projects. Get ready to take on projects that range from 40 to 180 squares, with the majority falling between 50 and 110 squares, with some jobs being much larger. We believe in rewarding the hard work and attention to detail that our partners bring to the table, so you can generally earn 2 times the standard rate for roofing projects. Smaller projects tend to offer a premium, and larger projects are naturally more competitive due to the amount of flat floor work. Either way, you’ll be well compensated for your exceptional craftsmanship.

At RenoSys, we have been in the business for 36 years, providing a national service that utilizes a specially formulated reinforced and textured 60 mil PVC “single ply” membrane for public pool use. Our product is designed to easily weld with a Leister handgun or robot, and once laid out, forms a watertight membrane to hold water in the pool. To ensure proper termination, we use pre-made flanges or bars, and our installation process is similar to a single ply roof, with one minor exception – the appearance of the finished product, which we will explain in detail below.
A before and after of a commercial PVC liner installation

Think of our projects as a flat roof  with one sloped floor section and with a very high parapet and a very neat and detailed top of parapet termination bar that you attach to.  Appearance is everything-well almost everything- they also must be watertight.

Pool vs. Roof: Build Similarities and Differences

Your installation tasks are very similar to a midsize roof.  I have listed out most of the normal tasks below so you can see the similarities:

  • You will receive full written details before you arrive on-site and a planned view of your project for your review.
  • The material comes on pallets and consists of 5.5 ft wide x 82’ long rolls.
  • Your materials are unloaded and inventoried, and a cut plan and overall layout is determined.
  • The old surface (usually but not always concrete) is broom cleaned and patched where needed.  Cracks are filled with caulk and large spans receive a spanning strip of ABS which is pinned to one side only.
  • The old pool surface is then sprayed with a provided sanitizing algaecide.
  • (There are 2 methods described) The next step is to neatly install with special fasteners the compression flanges which the wall and floor membrane will be installed UNDER.  This is a dry fit process.
  • Sometimes crews will preinstall these with a patch of material sticking out 3” outside of the flange.  This provides a trim piece to eventually weld the final membrane to.  In all cases when the flange is finally seated, we neatly apply a silicone caulk gasket under the final compression.  Could is ONLY finger dressed at the inner edges of the flange and is never to be used as a covering.
  • Next the weld on the termination strip is mechanically installed around the perimeter of the pool.  This detail is based on one of several predetermined and predefined termination details – usually solid PVC or PVC coated aluminum flashing) around the perimeter top.  Sometimes instead of an under strip, there is a manufactured Compression strip mechanically applied over the liner.
  • The walls go up next by installing a 3/16” thick geotextile felt underlayer that is adhesive secured over the pool wall (and eventually the floor) surface under that days anticipated PVC liner coverage area.
  • The PVC pool liner material is then precut to allow a foot or so of outrun coverage area onto the floor and neatly placed and glued up onto the walls in pieces in as long a piece as can be managed. This wall piece is attached via Leister welding to the preinstalled top term strip and next and is often left a 1/2 inch long (for final trimming), and then all vertical overlapped seams are Leister welded completely watertight.
  • The PVC or PVC Metal is next mechanically pinned to other detailed transition points like steps and ramps (if there are any) for the work in that area in anticipation of the upcoming floor installation.
  • The white or blue rolls of single ply are rolled out (generally running the long way) with each subsequent roll overlapping the prior roll with a 1.5” overlap for Robotic Leister welding of the floor membrane.
  • The floor membrane laps under the untrimmed wall installation.  It is kicked out to remove all floor wrinkles, glued out 3’ from the wall and/or pinned mechanically at the outer edges and then the walls previously described excess material is neatly trimmed and welded to the floor membrane.
  • The next step is the installation of precut and provided pool markings such as black floor racing lanes, wall targets, drop-off lines, and safety marking strips at the edges of stair treads.
  • Finally, the caulking is applied (if it was not done earlier) at the upper termination and it is tightly finger dressed or tooled.
  • All welds are fully gently probed and inspected for voids and a liquid seam sealer is applied to all welded seams.
  • The liner is then spot cleaned and swept and the project is turned over to the owner.

As part of our standard construction procedures at RenoSys, we consider various factors that may seem obvious, including maintaining a clean, orderly, and safe workspace, removing site trash on a daily basis, avoiding smoking on the site, preventing damage to the liner, being respectful of our clients, representing RenoSys by wearing our provided attire, avoiding heat gun burning or damage to the seams or membrane, and not disturbing the neighborhood or our job site with music or inappropriate behavior.

What are former roofers saying?

We have hired many PVC roofers through the years and generally the differences for them have been positive comments, such as:

  • It is SO nice to not be up in the wind and sun with absolutely no protection.
  • We don’t have to always be concerned about falling.  (Be careful at the pool deck edge though!)
  • It is great to never be lifting everything UP onto a roof but rather lowering it into the pool.
  • It sure pays better than a roof project.
  • It is great to sometimes have indoor projects, so we don’t lose man days to rain and snow.
  • Because of the finished look of the finished job, I can really take pride because unlike up on a roof everyone can see the quality of my craftsmanship.
Rainbow Beach public pool in Vincennes Indiana from far away

The last (#6) being the most challenging aspect of performing roofing work on a project such as this is the level of precision and attention to detail required, which is significantly higher than the standard metric of “does my roof leak or not?” that roofers are used to. This means that the work must be performed neatly and meticulously, posing a significant adjustment for roofers to achieve the desired results.

Up on the roof few clients care about burns and rough irregular unsightly trimming and welding, shoe scuff marks, or the quality of the details and finish work. Your RenoSys work product requires detailed craftsmanship because the finished project will be clearly seen by all, not only when the client walks the pool at the final inspection but also every day for over a decade when a swimmer is floating at the pool edge an inch or two from your final top termination weld.

Hidden pre-welding being the exception, the welding work can be not burned in at a high heat setting.

We do not allow patches except carefully trimmed work at corners and steps.

There is obviously more to convey which will be done in the 2 to 4-hour pre-project start infield training. If you have a team of craftsmen who care about the “Look” of a project, then working with us will be a happy expansion and will make your team a better roofing crew.

If you have a “wham bam thank you ma’am” kind of operation (and there is nothing wrong with that on a competitively priced large roof), a crew that is unwilling to slow down and make the project beautiful, this may not be a good fit for you. If on the other hand, your crews can approach our projects with attention to detail on the top, steps, and corners (the floors nearly always go just as fast as a roof) then this might be a great relationship to explore.

In conclusion, we have lots of work available, pay nearly double what a roof would typically go for and we can provide either “fill-in work” in your area or keep you nearly completely covered with work if you meet our standards and are willing to regionally travel.