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Bubbling, water damage found on school gym roofs; repairs advised
Summary
A presenter in a facility inspection video described widespread bubbling, membrane separation, and saturated plywood on multiple school roofs and urged immediate repairs, warning delays would increase damage and cost.
A presenter in a facility inspection video described widespread bubbling, membrane separation and saturated plywood on multiple school gym roofs and urged immediate repairs to prevent further damage and higher costs. "The longer that we wait, the worse it gets, the more expensive it gets to repair it correctly," the presenter said.
The presenter walked through the roof assemblies visible on the video, saying the roof consists of shingles over a synthetic underlayment atop a ventilated nail base "which is a plywood sandwich assembly." He explained that when water gets under the shingles and underlayment it "saturates the plywood and that nail base causing the plywood to get soft and spongy." The presenter pointed to multiple raised domes and blisters, reporting "no less than six" bubbles on the primary gym roof.
He also described problems on flat roofs covered with EPDM membrane, saying the membrane has detached from the coverboard where the adhesive failed. "When you're seeing that rubber membrane floating, the membrane has become detached from the coverboard, meaning the adhesive has failed," he said, adding that moisture has saturated the coverboard so it swells and lifts the membrane, creating blisters and domes.
The presenter identified specific risk points, including a particularly bad area above the kitchen and a bubble above an office, and warned that large bubbles and "waves" in the membrane increase the risk the roof could lift in strong wind. He said he planned to "call the roofers and get that repaired now before it gets even worse."
He recommended that, because the plywood nail base (on steep roofs) and coverboard/insulation (on flat roofs) are affected, repairs should replace not just shingles or the membrane but also the underlying sections of nail base, coverboard and insulation. He emphasized that delaying work will increase both damage and cost.
The inspection video shows visible domes, seam separation and areas where the membrane appears detached; the presenter framed the conditions as active failures that warrant prompt repair. The next step he stated on the video was to contact roofing contractors to begin repairs.
