Water – it’s necessary for life itself, but it can be so very destructive. Floods and other similar catastrophes are perhaps the most vivid reminder of the power of water, but there are more insidious threats, too. For instance, that basement water leak could be a serious threat to your health and that of your family. Even a very small water leak can cause major damage over time, and can create conditions ideal for mold and mildew growth, which can adversely affect your health. Liquid rubber products can help prevent these threats from affecting your home, you or your family.

What Is Liquid Rubber?

Liquid rubber is exactly what it sounds like. It’s a liquidized form of rubber specially designed to remain liquid until applied to a surface and then cured. Once it cures, it doesn’t turn hard like putty, or lose its elasticity like silicone. Rather, it remains extremely elastic, allowing it to bear up under expansion and contraction, exposure to the elements, high temperatures and more. It’s also a permanent solution to water leaks.

Where Can Liquid Rubber Be Used?

Your first thought might be the roof of your home or an RV, and that’s certainly one widespread use of liquid rubber. However, liquid rubber floor coatings are also possible. These can be used on any type of floor where moisture is a problem. It can be applied to both the exterior and interior of a substrate as well. What does that mean for you? Actually, depending on your application, it might mean any number of things.

Let’s go back to the example of a slow water leak in your basement. This is usually the case where all or part of your basement walls are underground. Rainwater seeps down from above and penetrates the concrete. Concrete is porous, and all too often, construction crews don’t do the best job of waterproofing the cement before piling earth back around it. What this means for you is a constant stream of headaches every time it rains. You might even have a drain and a sump to combat the problem.

However, by applying liquid rubber to the exterior of the concrete, the contractor could have permanently sealed your home against the intrusion of water. You’re not out of luck though. You can apply liquid rubber to the inside of your home’s basement walls on your own and prevent water from leaking in. Liquid rubber flooring can also be applied when you have moisture seeping upward through the basement floor.

Liquid rubber can be used in any number of other applications, as well. It’s been used in rainwater collection systems, in raised bed gardening, and thousands of other places. Anytime you need to keep water in or out of a system, a few coats of this product will do the trick. As a note, liquid rubber flooring and other similar products must be applied following the manufacturer’s directions in terms of coating thickness, curing time and the number of coats needed.

If you have an EPDM roof that needs repairs, it’s easy to do with liquid rubber. One of the reasons that you opted for an EPDM roofing solution in the first place is because of it’s durability, and more than likely, whatever repairs you’re going to need to make are going to be relatively minor. This is exactly what liquid rubber (also known as liquid roof) has been designed for. It’s made out of the exact same compounds that your EPDM roof has been made out of, so you can rest assured that a liquid rubber application to your existing roof system is going to have the exact same level of durability and weather resistance.

How Can I Use Liquid Rubber EPDM Roof Coating?

In order to use liquid rubber to make repairs to your EPDM roof, you’re going to need to get your hands on a few things first. Rather obviously, and most importantly, you’re going to need a container of liquid rubber, which you should be able to easily locate at a hardware store. Next up, you’ll need an EPDM roller, which you’ll use for the liquid rubber application on your roof. Finally, you may want to consider investing in some cleaning supplies and masking tape if you don’t already have a supply of those things.

Once you have everything, you’ll just need to wait for a decent day to make the repairs to your roof. The temperature won’t make much of a difference for the liquid rubber itself, but you’ll want to make sure that you’ve picked a day where it will be comfortable for you to be working outside for a while.

Using Liquid Rubber for Repairs in 3 Easy Steps

After you’ve settled on a day, you’ll just need to follow these easy steps.

• Clean your roof: In order for the liquid rubber to work as it was intended, you’re going to need to ensure that the surface to which it’s being applied is cleaned thoroughly. The liquid rubber application needs to bond with your existing roofing system, and this won’t be able to happen effectively if the surface isn’t cleaned beforehand.
• Apply the liquid rubber: Using your EPDM roller, you will then spread out the liquid rubber over the roof, paying close attention to spreading it as evenly as possible. An uneven spread will lead to headaches later on down the line, and you wouldn’t want that to happen after all of your hard work.
• Let it dry: After the liquid rubber application has been made successfully, you’ll have to give it 24 hours to dry and bond correctly with the EPDM roofing system. After you’ve let this time elapse, you should be good to go!

As you can see, making an application of liquid rubber for the purpose of roof repairs is incredibly easy! However, if you’re at all concerned about your handiwork, then you can always hire a licensed and capable contractor to make the repairs with liquid rubber for you.