More important than you may know! This is a picture of an eight year old TPO roof membrane that was sold to the building owner as a 30 year roof system in 2001.  What this owner did not know was that his new single-ply roof was not a 30 year leak-free roof system under the standing water conditions present on his roof, nor was his roof going to remain leak-free for a period of 30 years. By 2009 the roof required major roof repairs that were not covered by their TPO roof warranty.

Not Long! Many TPO and PVC roofing membranes listed on the Cool Roof Rating Council commonly show 3-year aged testing results with ratings for reflectivity in the mid 60% to 70% range. Some are even as low as 50%. All these membranes start off as cool roof membranes but accelerated wear caused by UV breaks down the energy saving properties of these types of single-ply roofing membranes, and by year three, the roof is no longer exhibiting cool roof characteristics as it did new.