A Circa-1900 Harmony Lodge Gets a New EPDM Rubber Roof — Low-Slope Roofing in Glocester, RI

Like most Pinnacle roofing projects, the work was completed in a single day — minimizing disruption for the homeowner.

Pinnacle makes every roof affordable with monthly financing options to make your home project affordable with low monthly payments, including 0% interest for 18 months.

It felt like stepping back in time: a circa-1900 hunting lodge in the Harmony village of Glocester, stone foundations and all, wearing a rubber roof long past its prime. Pinnacle Roofing & Skylights replaced it with a new EPDM membrane over an inch of Poly ISO insulation — modern low-slope performance on a building with real history.

Scope of Work

The crew removed the old membrane down to a sound substrate, then installed 1″ Poly ISO insulation boards — a closed-cell polyisocyanurate core faced with glass-fiber-reinforced felt — mechanically secured across the deck. The new EPDM membrane was bonded to the ISO with high-strength contact adhesive for a fully adhered assembly, with terminations and metal edge details closing the perimeter watertight.

What We Installed (And Why)

EPDM — ethylene propylene diene monomer — is a high-density synthetic rubber with a 30-plus-year service record on low-slope roofs. Its elasticity is the key in our climate: it stretches and recovers through freeze-thaw cycles that crack lesser membranes, and it shrugs off the hail and debris a wooded Glocester site delivers.

The Poly ISO layer does double duty: it gives the membrane a smooth, uniform substrate for full adhesion, and it adds meaningful R-value on top of the lodge’s original attic insulation — a century-old building that now loses noticeably less heat through its roof.

Project Photo Gallery

The lodge’s fieldstone entry — a century-old building with character worth protecting.

The old membrane at end of life — brittle, patched, and ready for replacement.

The new EPDM field terminated cleanly at the metal edge — a watertight perimeter.

Good To Know: Is EPDM a good roof for an older building?

Often it is the best one. Older low-slope and shallow-pitch roofs were built for materials that no longer exist or never worked well. A fully adhered EPDM assembly adds insulation, handles structural movement an old building makes seasonally, and installs without heavy equipment that could stress vintage framing. The building keeps its character above the walls; the roof quietly becomes modern.

Why This Approach Works

Full adhesion over rigid insulation means no fasteners through the membrane, no flutter in wind, and a monolithic surface with very few seams. On a wooded site that drops branches and holds snow, fewer seams and full support are exactly what longevity looks like.

Why Pinnacle

Pinnacle Roofing & Skylights is Firestone Building Envelope Certified for commercial roofing systems, and holds RI Commercial Roofing License #261. We are also Mule-Hide and Gaco licensed applicators for coating systems, so we can service and extend low-slope roofs of nearly every type. With more than 100 five-star Google reviews and an A+ BBB rating, our track record speaks for itself.

Glocester, RI

Glocester is northwest Rhode Island at its most rural — Chepachet’s antique storefronts, Harmony’s lake cottages and lodges, long gravel drives into the woods. Pinnacle serves Glocester with both shingle and low-slope membrane systems.