Upgrading Nuralite Roofs

Old Nuralite Roof & Newly Rebirthed Roof

Key Features

In the early 1960's the first sheets of Nuralite membrane were laid in New Zealand, manufactured in the UK by British Uralite PLC. Nuralite roofs and decks were spot bonded to the substrate using "blobs" of bitumen adhesive. The "brick" pattern appearance easily identifies Nuralite roofs.

Nuralite was black when first laid but weathered to a permanent attractive shade of mottled Matt Grey colour over a year. No additional surface treatments were required.

Both systems performed very well and have been widely used on many iconic buildings throughout New Zealand, The Pacific Islands and Asia, as well as in Europe.

Now however many of these systems are reaching the end of their useful life.

Beyond the standard maintenance, Nuralite does not recommend overcoating the old membrane with an acrylic or liquid system. The old Nuralite was not designed to be coated, so applying liquid systems may cause bubbles and blisters. If the roof is very tired then it could be time for an entirely new roof.

Overlay the roof with a modern Nuraply system
If the system has reached the end of its useful life and the membrane is still well adhered to the substrate, the recommended approach is to overlay the existing roof with a modern Nuraply system.

This approach uses the original roof as an underlay and saves disposing of the old membrane which could be an expensive exercise.

A suitably trained applicator needs to review the state of the current roof, paying particular attention to the amount of moisture that may have been absorbed into the substrate. Substrates with high moisture levels will requiring dying out before being overlaid with a new membrane.

Depending on this assessment the membrane can be overlaid with Nuraply 3P or Nuraply 3PM with Nuraply 3PV used as the basesheet in either case.

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