Built-Up Roofing in Georgia & South Carolina

A roof built in layers, not chances

Built-up roofing - "BUR," and what many still call a "tar and gravel" roof - is the original flat-roof system, and it has earned its place over a century of service on commercial and industrial buildings.

RPI installs BUR by bonding multiple alternating plies of reinforcing roofing felt and waterproofing bitumen directly over your roof insulation, then finishing the assembly with a protective surfacing of mineral aggregate or a reflective cap. Each ply is a fully waterproof membrane in its own right - so a BUR roof isn't relying on a single skin to keep water out. It's relying on four, five, or six.

For a property owner, that translates to proven durability, real fire and traffic resistance, and a service life that routinely runs decades when the system is specified and installed correctly. As a Carlisle-certified, award-winning commercial roofing contractor working across Georgia and South Carolina since 2000, that "installed correctly" part is exactly what RPI brings to the table.

The redundancy is in the build

A built-up roof is engineered from the deck up. Every layer does a job, and the overlapping plies are what make BUR one of the most forgiving low-slope systems on the market.

• Insulation & cover board - rigid insulation sets the thermal value and the slope to drain, with a cover board giving the membrane a sound, fire-rated substrate to bond to.
• Base sheet - the anchor ply, mechanically fastened or adhered to the deck. It's the foundation the rest of the membrane is built on.
• Alternating plies & bitumen - layers of reinforcing roofing felt interply-mopped in hot asphalt or cold adhesive. Each ply is a continuous waterproof membrane, and the overlap is your redundancy.
• Surfacing & cap - mineral aggregate, a mineral-surfaced cap sheet, or a reflective coating shields the membrane from UV, foot traffic, and the Georgia and Carolina sun.

Where built-up belongs

BUR is a low-slope specialist. RPI installs it where its redundancy and toughness genuinely earn their keep - and we'll tell you honestly when a single-ply, metal, or coating system is the smarter call for your building.

• Low-slope & flat roofs - the classic BUR application: large, near-flat decks where a thick, redundant multi-ply membrane outperforms a thin single skin.
• Warehouses & distribution - big-footprint industrial buildings where the roof protects high-value inventory and a failure is expensive. Redundancy is the whole point.
• Schools, churches & institutional - long-life, low-maintenance roofing over occupied buildings, exactly where a proven 20-to-30-year system pays off over its lifetime.
• High-traffic industrial roofs - roofs that take regular service traffic and rooftop equipment, where BUR's heavy, durable surfacing shrugs off wear that punctures lighter systems.

When an existing BUR roof has reached the end of its life, we also handle full commercial re-roofing in TPO, EPDM, and modified bitumen, plus coatings and restoration to extend a sound deck for years more. We serve commercial buildings across all four of our markets - see our full service area in Georgia and South Carolina.

Tell us about your building and we'll evaluate whether a built-up roof is the right call - and price it straight. Explore our commercial roofing services or request a quote to get started.