[Greenbuilding] Coating a concrete house

[Blyth McManus]

Rob,

You are absolutely correct - the roof is a low slope with minimal
overhang.  The building is in light shade on the edge of a deciduous
forest facing due south with a thin line of trees in front of it.
It's in damp, humid coastal DE in the midatlantic coast US.  I am
thinking of tearing off the existing roof and building a modified A
frame.  The original builder just draped the rubber membrane over the
roof - I think the only thing holding it in place is gravity :/

The supports are reused telephone poles so I think it can take most
anything I want to throw at it, weight-wise!

Thanks for the help!
Blyth

------------------------------------------

Blyth;

Spray (poly)urethane foam will deteriorate when exposed to sunlight.
Epoxy will deteriorate when exposed to sunlight.
Paint over the epoxy to protect it from UV will deteriorate and need
renewing on a regular basis.
Insects, rodents, woodpeckers and drunks with fire can destroy foamed
plast-echhh! exteriors.

Moral of the story:

       Sprayed foam + epoxy coating over the existing structure
       will only add more problems to a structure that has already failed.

My first guess is that there are minimal overhangs on a low-slope roof.
That is the Kiss of Death for stucco.

And if everything "up there" (in the roof) is wet then obviously the roof
membrane was installed improperly.

If the structure is to be restored, the first thing that needs to be done
is make a roof that does its job properly.

You don't mention locale and climate or anything about the roof structure
so it's impossible to know what sort of materials would work for the
claddings.  ie If it's the Murrican desert SW, a earthen plaster may very
well be a reasonable alternative. Or, if the roof structure is beefy
enough (or "strong enough" if you happen to be of a non-bovine species and
take offense at species stereo-typing when it comes to capabilities.)