What is Built-Up Roofing (BUR)?

Built-up Roofing (or BUR) is the most popular choice of roofing used on commercial, industrial and institutional buildings. BUR is used on flat or low-sloped roofs and consists of multiple layers of bitumen and ply sheets. Components of a BUR system include the roof deck, a vapor retarder, insulation, membrane and surfacing material. The components are assembled at the job site to actually form the built-up roof. At the heart of this roofing system is the roofing membrane, which consists of roofing bitumen and multiple reinforcing plies of roofing felt. Roofing bitumen is the primary adhesion/waterproofing agent used between roofing plies. Bitumen arrives at the job site in solid form, but is heated and applied as a liquid. Roofing bitumens may be either a product of petroleum refining (asphalts) or a product of the coal-cooking process (coal tar pitch). Multiple reinforcing “plies” are asphalt-coated roofing sheets or felts installed in three or more layers to strengthen and ...  more