Like most Pinnacle roofing projects, the work was completed in a single day — minimizing disruption for the homeowner.
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On Seapowet Avenue in Tiverton, this low-slope commercial building needed a durable flat-roof membrane and a way to bring natural daylight into the space below. We installed a fully-adhered EPDM rubber roof and set a VELUX fixed skylight into the new membrane, a pairing that gives the building a watertight, long-lasting commercial roofing surface while cutting daytime lighting needs. Because it is a low-slope roof, the details at the seams and the skylight curb are everything, and that is where the job was won.
Scope of Work
The crew prepared the low-slope deck and built the assembly up in the right order: a self-adhered base, then a fully-adhered EPDM membrane rolled out across the field with seams cleaned and sealed to lock out water. Flashing was detailed carefully around every rooftop penetration and vent. For the skylight, we framed a proper insulated curb, integrated it into the membrane, and flashed the VELUX fixed unit into the EPDM so the glass sheds water onto the rubber rather than trapping it. Every transition on a flat roof is a potential leak point, so each one was sealed as part of our commercial roofing detailing.
What We Installed (And Why)
EPDM is a single-ply synthetic rubber membrane and it is the workhorse of low-slope commercial roofing for good reason: it is highly resistant to UV, ozone, and the wide temperature swings that flat roofs endure, and a fully-adhered system bonds tight to the substrate so wind cannot get underneath it. On a building where standing water and ponding are the real enemies, a continuous, properly seamed rubber field is the most reliable, cost-effective surface we can install.
The VELUX fixed skylight is a sealed, non-opening unit chosen purely to deliver daylight, which is exactly what a commercial interior often wants: a bright, glare-managed source of natural light with no moving parts to maintain. Set on an insulated curb and flashed into the EPDM, it becomes a permanent, watertight part of the roof rather than a weak spot punched through it, turning wasted overhead space into free daytime lighting.
Project Photo Gallery
Good To Know: Can you safely put a skylight in a flat rubber roof?
You can, and the key is the curb and the flashing detail rather than the skylight itself. On a low-slope EPDM roof, a skylight has to sit on a raised, insulated curb so water drains away from the glass instead of pooling at its base, and the membrane has to be turned up and sealed to that curb as one continuous piece. Done that way, as we did on this Tiverton building, the skylight is every bit as watertight as the field of the roof. Done poorly, it is the first place a flat roof leaks. That is why the flashing craft matters more than the unit you buy.
Why This Approach Works
Low-slope roofs live and die by their weakest detail. By combining a fully-adhered EPDM field with a properly curbed and flashed skylight, we removed the two things that most often fail on a flat roof, loose seams and poorly integrated penetrations, and replaced them with a single sealed assembly. The building gets a rubber surface engineered to outlast decades of sun and weather, plus daylight that lowers energy use, without adding a maintenance headache. It is durability and function solved together.
Why Pinnacle
Commercial low-slope work demands specialized credentials, and Pinnacle carries them. We are a Mule-Hide and Gaco Licensed Applicator and Firestone Building Envelope Certified for commercial membrane systems, and a VELUX 5-Star Skylight Specialist for the daylighting side, so both the EPDM roof and the skylight were installed to manufacturer standard. Serving Rhode Island since 2012, we hold RI Commercial License #261, a 5.0-star Google rating with 100+ five-star reviews, a BBB A+ rating, and NRCA and RIBA membership.
Tiverton, RI
Tiverton sits along the eastern shore of the Sakonnet River, a town that blends working farmland, coastal marsh, and small commercial properties exposed to salt air and strong seasonal weather. Buildings here need roofs that can take UV, wind, and moisture without complaint, which makes a fully-adhered rubber membrane a natural fit. We are proud to handle commercial and low-slope roofing for property owners across Tiverton.
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401-267-ROOF (7663)