Holcim Elevate Roofing in Santa Rosa, CA
Roofing Manufacturers
The label on your old membrane probably says Firestone, and that does not mean you own an orphan. Firestone Building Products is now Holcim Elevate, the same product families under a new corporate name. Sheet that went down years ago under the old brand is still repairable, still tested and still worth keeping when it is sound. The name changed. The chemistry did not.
That matters in Santa Rosa, CA, when a roof outlives its paperwork. A membrane has to be identified before anyone can say whether it deserves a repair, a recover or a tear-off, and how it ages in this climate decides how soon that call comes.
Serving Santa Rosa • Rohnert Park • Petaluma • Windsor • Healdsburg • Sebastopol • Napa
What the old Firestone label tells you
Two product names come up most often. UltraPly is the TPO sheet, a white thermoplastic membrane with welded seams. RubberGard is the EPDM line, a rubber sheet with taped or adhesive seams. The maker also sells PVC membranes, insulation and edge metal to go with them.
If your roof is rubber, you have a repairable sheet with a long record and one habit worth watching: it shrinks as it ages. If your roof is TPO, the key questions are how thick the sheet is and how clean the welds are. We read the printing on the sheet, the seam pattern and the attachment, and that is usually enough to tell which one you have. A core sample finishes the job when we need it.
Resort and campus roofs come in pieces
In Rohnert Park, on US 101, Graton Resort & Casino has 135,000 square feet of gaming space and a six-story, 200-room hotel, and Sonoma State University occupies 269 acres. A floor area or an acreage figure says nothing about what is on top of the buildings, so we do not guess.
A resort with a hotel and a gaming floor, or a campus with a library and a music center, carries several roof areas that can differ in age, pitch and consequence if water gets in. A hotel roof sits over guest rooms and a campus roof sits over classrooms. Both are better managed as a program than as a series of emergencies.
Verdict: write down every roof area, its age and what sits below it before choosing which one to touch first.
Old rubber shrinks and old TPO chalks
North county heat is a harder test
The city's record is 115 degrees, set September 6, 2022, and Healdsburg touched 117 that day. Healdsburg also averages about 42 inches of precipitation a year, noticeably more than coastal Sonoma County. A roof in Healdsburg works through a wetter year than one in Santa Rosa, and through record heat two degrees higher.
For a membrane, that means more expansion and contraction, more UV and more stress on seams. In the November 2024 storm, nearly 15 inches fell on Santa Rosa and Occidental saw over 20. Drains that are clean in October can be buried by December. We schedule drain checks before the wet season, not after the first flood.
Identify first, then decide
Start with a commercial roof inspection that records the sheet type, the seam condition and every flashing. Add an infrared moisture survey if the roof is old or has ponded.
Sound sheet, dry insulation: repair the seams and flashings, add walk pads and clear the drains. Tired sheet, dry insulation: a recover may work, though the old sheet must be flat enough. Wet insulation or a soft deck: replace. We will show you the findings, because the same tests that justify a replacement also justify leaving a good roof alone.
Skip the rename and the repaint
Do not pay extra because a new brand name sounds newer. A Firestone-era sheet in good shape beats a new membrane on a bad deck. Do not coat a rubber roof that is shrinking or a sheet with soaked insulation beneath, and do not replace a roof just because its paperwork is hard to find. A core sample and a moisture scan tell you more than a binder does.
If a competitor's bid offers a different brand, such as a Sarnafil PVC sheet, compare the full assembly, not just the product name.
A Carlisle SynTec roof has its own membrane identification and seam details, so confirm that system before choosing repair materials.
Product generations and former brand names can complicate a roof file. Photograph the installed markings, identify the membrane where possible, and match repair materials to the verified assembly rather than choosing from a legacy label alone. Confirm current submittals, attachment, accessories, and written warranty conditions for the proposed scope. If the roof has been coated or repaired by several contractors, test a representative area before assuming the original product remains exposed. The record should identify what is known and what still needs confirmation.
Commercial Roofing Questions
My building's roof says Firestone. Is it still repairable now that the company has a different name?
It is. The membrane itself has not changed, and the repair materials for UltraPly and RubberGard are still made. What matters is the sheet's condition and age. We identify the product, check the seams and test for moisture, and then match the repair material to what is on your roof.
A casino or resort has several roof areas of different ages. How should the owner prioritize?
Rank each area by two things: how much shape it is in and what a leak would cost below it. Roofs over guest rooms, gaming floors and kitchens go to the top of the list even if they are not the oldest. A condition report with photos and moisture findings makes the order easy to defend to a board.
Why does my old rubber roof look wavy at the walls?
That waviness is shrinkage. As EPDM ages it contracts and pulls at the edges, and the flashing at the top of the wall takes the strain. If the sheet is still pliable we can re-secure it and replace the flashing. If it is brittle, repair buys only a short stretch and a recover or replacement is the better call.
Does Healdsburg heat change which sheet I should pick?
It pushes the decision toward reflective membranes and tight seam detailing. A white TPO or PVC sheet sheds a lot of the heat. EPDM can still work, particularly on small roofs with lots of detail, if the building's cooling costs are not a big concern.
Should a university like Sonoma State replace roofs in one big project?
Rarely. Rank the roofs, replace the worst first and use what you learn on the early jobs to tighten the specification for the later ones. A single big project hides problems until the work is under way, and it concentrates cost into a single budget year.
Show us the label.
Call Commercial Roofing Santa Rosa. We will identify the membrane, test the insulation and tell you whether the roof needs work now, later or not at all.
