Adam Cabrera: Welcome to Roofing Road Trips, the podcast that takes you on a thrilling journey across the world of roofing. From fascinating interviews with roofing experts to on-the-road adventures, we'll uncover the stories, innovations, and challenges that shape the rooftops over our heads. So fasten your seat belts and join us as we embark on this exciting roofing road trip. Hello and welcome to another episode of Roofing Road Trips from Roofers Coffee Shop. My name's Karen Edwards, and today's conversation is going to be all about planning penetrations before they become problems. We all know what problems penetrations on a roof can cause. And joining me for this important conversation is Peter Picini from RPH. Peter, welcome to the podcast. Thank you so much for having me, Karen. I appreciate it. Yeah. So for those listening, can you introduce yourself? Tell us a little bit about you, your background, and what you do for RPH. Yeah. So currently I'm the director of sales for RPH. I manage our inside sales team as well as our outside sales. I come from twenty-six years of building envelope experience. I actually started out on a roof. I started out pushing a broom. from my father's company and then just started working my way up the chain. Not too long ago, maybe ten years ago, I fell in love with waterproofing as well. And took on that that technical aspect and just grown my my wealth of information, I guess you could say, through the companies I've worked for and the and and the jobs that I've worked on. Yeah. So fun fact for those listening who who know Roofers Coffee Shop. started out as a newspaper called the Reefers Exchange. Peter told me before we started that he used to get the mail the the paper in the mail and really looked forward to it. So it's great to see you here, you know, being a fan all those years. Thanks a lot, Peter. We appreciate you. Yeah. Okay. So let's talk about what is RPH? Who who are you and what do you do? Yeah, so RPH roof penetration housings, advanced building solutions. We we focus on the complex penetrations that are are are coming more and more common on on on buildings. We we deal with the we deal with below grade walls and and the roof. And our founders, which founded us about twelve years ago, they saw a need. and they s they saw what we had in the industry currently wasn't wasn't the best solution and and they and and they with their entrepreneurial mind came up with this design and and they created it and it and went to market and you know kind of sat there for a little bit and then with our most recent construction boom people saw the need for a real penetration solution and that's where our pH has come in and you know we do have some core products but our our bread and butter is we we we build the Per design. We we get to make make the solution for for all of these data centers and all of these schools and all of these hospitals. We're customizing the solution for the roof. and what's neat about it as an old roofer and as an old waterproofer, what's neat about it is these are air and wind and proof type products. you know, the days of filling in a teetop with great stuff from Home Depot. you know, they're they're long gone and and now we have these products that have, you know, solutions that that don't allow for thermal loss and and don't allow for, you know, air and wind to come into the building. So that that's that's where we're at with RPH. And we're we're growing just so much every day and we've got new products coming out. I'm so excited for twenty twenty seven. Not a lot to share obviously, but you know we're Getting yes, yes, I know, but we're getting into more and more markets. So it's it's an exciting time to be here. Yeah, it sure is. And and we'll have to have you back then to talk about what's new when you're allowed to talk about it. So a little tease for our listeners. You got it. You got it. Okay. So what you know, as you said, you know, lots of new construction, lots of data centers, hospitals, schools. And everybody wants to put stuff up on the roof, right? We gotta run all these wires, we gotta run all this stuff. And that just creates a lot of challenges, right? You you I'm sure those listening have seen a lot of really messy roofs, right? So why is it important to think this through during the project planning phase rather than waiting until the installation's happening and somebody realizes Boy, we need to do something about this. Yeah. you know, it when you think about it, penetrations are are always the last thing. even when you're installing the roof, they're the last thing sealed, they're the last thing flashed. And and honestly, in the in the design world, they're also the last thing thought about. We think about everything going on to the roof, but we don't think how it goes into the roof, how it goes into the building. So being part of the early design phase is paramount. for us. You you know, at that point you're removing any of the issues that that are going to arise later on. And, you know, I've always been taught to be from, you know, beginning to the end. And and sometimes the beginning can be three years before we even see the roof. But by the time we get to the end, we know that we can walk off of that that roof with the thought process that it will never never leak, it it won't have thermal loss, you know, it won't have some of the issues that so many people have been seeing. And, you know, the best part is is yeah, these roofs are challenging, but you change your perspective and it gives you an opportunity for solutions. And so, you know, we get to be part of the solutions from an early, early, early part of the the job. Yeah. So I'm curious, you know, during the design process, you know, is the architect, you know, while they're designing the building working with you on figuring this out, or do we get to the point where the roofing contractor's gonna bid on the project and he goes Yeah, there's gonna be some problems here. We need to talk to RPH or maybe it's both scenarios. Mm-hmm. It is both. It is both. You know what we generally like is is is scenario one. The architect reaches out to us. Of course and we We, you know, we have a top-notch customs solutions team in-house. so generally we'll put them in place with the architect and they'll start talking about, you know, the region of the country that they're in because those have win ratings. we'll start talking about snow loads. We'll start talking about what's around the building. We'll start talking about how many penetrations are gonna need to enter this box. And from there we begin that custom solution. design, but we're also working with the the plumbing engineer, we're working with the mechanical engineer, and we're also working with the roofing consultant. And and you know, b by bringing all four or five of us together, then we're finally on one page and we can all all solidify the penetration. Because sometimes, Karen, these are twelve, fourteen inch refrigerant lines that are chilled water lines that are going through the building that nobody ever thinks about. So, you know, that's that you know, scenario one is where we wanna be. But yeah, scenario two happens. And and as you know, as a roofer, you know, we we would just in my in my days on the roof, we would say, not a problem, I'll run back to the the warehouse, break a twenty four piece, twenty-four gauge piece of metal and install it. And that's great, but it doesn't take into account again, what's the wind rating in that in that region? Are you on the coast? Do you you know all of those things change. we're also not familiar, you know, we embarrassing you know, embarrassingly as a roofer, I'm not reading what codes you need. So if you're telling me it needs to be ICC five hundred, I I'm just staring at you with a blank face. So when we design it, you know, after the fact it causes issues. So they're calling us and and we we get to be again part of part of the hero team, so to speak, and and provide a solution towards the Yeah. So I, you know, I I love innovative, creative solutions. And can you kind of describe because we are you know, we've got people listening. So when we're talking about the solutions that you provide, can you give me, you know, spell that out for me so I can visualize this in my mind? Yeah. so we have we have a couple product lines. We have our our our big one is called the vault. And the vault is for penetrations that are two hundred and twenty five miles per hour or less. And think of you know, the easiest way to think of it is is is our normal pitch pan or our normal T top, but more on a more grand scale. And so we don't have the the exit that some people are used to. We don't have the great seal that y you know so many of us are used to. What we have is an exit seal. And so it it has a patented design to it where it keeps it keeps the wind out, the air out, and it keeps the the temperature in the building. So it it's a it's a engineered solution to an everyday problem, you know, on that case. And then we have our cyclone line. And our cyclone line is for two you know 250 miles per hour and up. And with that we do have a a cyclone steel housing which is very similar to our vault. But it's now gonna be for more of your tornado zones. And we have roof drains on the cyclone side. again, providing that wind uplift. We have storm shelter solutions, you know, where we have high you know, high storm areas are gonna have s safe rooms. so we provide products for all of those meeting the code that's required for those, such as FEMA, such as ICC, such as Ashray. We, you know, we we work towards those. those goals or those codes in order to make products that that solve those those challenges. Yeah. Wow. You said two hundred and fifty miles and up. Yes, ma'am. Yeah. I'm sure you have you obviously you it's been tested to that, but I'm sure you have lots of stories where it really did provide the protection that was needed through a severe storm. Do you hear those those kind of cases after the fact? We we We ha we have some that I'd love to get more. You know, we we're it it's it's it's really neat, Karen, because just the other day I got a call from the Virgin Islands and they're in the hurricane zone. So they're now specifying it because again it protects not only just the roof, but it protects what's inside the building. you know, 'cause penetrations are you're gonna be your weakest point. So I don't wanna be there when that two hundred and seventy five miles per hour rolls through, but we're gonna design it so that that it doesn't start failing at our point. So yeah, as our product gets put more and more on the roost, it's it's really neat to see those case studies come back to us. Yeah. Yeah. And, you know, we're we're hearing, especially with data centers, I I keep hearing the term mission critical being used, right? Hospitals, data centers, schools. So protecting not only what's inside, but ensuring that they can still be functional. Because they're protected, right? Because i if they don't have that kind of protection, really bad things are are gonna be a result. Yeah. Wow. Yeah, I prefer I prefer the term high risk, to be honest with you. I love high risk structures. you know, what's inside is at high risk. It can't it can't get damaged. It can't it can't shut down. Mission critical, cool tech title, but I I do like the high risk. High risk. You know, I've been fortunate to be part of the World War Two Museum, the Medal of Honor Museum, you know, these are all high risk facilities that I got to be part of. and that's that's that's where, you know, we like to play is because inside of those those those structures are valuable things. It may not just be people, it could be history that that is part of. And and so, you know, we want to make sure that we're protecting those. So we put we provide our product to go above and beyond. Yeah. Yeah, so early on in a in a project, when you're involved and y I know we talked about everybody working together, being on the same page. Do you often see design changes or shifts that have to be made because you are calling attention to something that maybe someone didn't think about? yeah. And and again, that's you know, I I I I'm blessed to have a top notch customs team, but they do point it out, you know, hey, we can do it this way a little easier. you know, we can r we can build the box bigger. So, you know, we can build it taller. You know, a lot of times our our knowledge only goes so far. So we we get to expand the knowledge for other people that it does exist. You don't have to put sixteen boxes on a roof. You can condense it down to one. You can condense it down to four. So we do make those changes. It's not uncommon for us to go through a design process and as the job gets closer and closer to install, we may we may make six, seven, eight different changes. It could be a change in the material. It could be change in the size. it could be a change in in the way the pipes are being run. But we we make it with with the code in mind and we make it with the occupants in mind. So we expect those changes. We're flexible. We're not we're not a cruise ship. We're a speed boat and we we can we can turn Turn pretty quick. So, you know, it's part of the business. Yeah. And you know, we're seeing weather just extremes. It's just becoming the norm. And we're seeing build buildings being either designed or retrofitted with more resilient materials, stronger, right? Tougher, more w wind resistant, fire resistant, all that stuff. Or or and we're today where we're talking about high risk, but are you s Seeing more of not so high risk, you know, just kind of your standard buildings looking for solutions like this. Yeah, we're taking hundreds, if not, you know, thousands of calls a week about our product because they they are recognizing that, you know, spending a little bit more on the front end is going to save them in the long term. The the you know, sometimes change comes from failure. And so the building collapse, so to speak, not so to speak, but the building collapse in Florida really changed the waterproofing industry, really changed the design industry. So we are seeing because of those sadly tragedies, we are seeing a lot more people invest properly into the building envelope side of the business. You know, we all want marble countertops or quartz countertops in our office buildings, but we don't think at what cost. We don't think that, you know, just doing the standard product, you know, is is is just good enough. Well, we want to protect those marbles. So we we we're we're building, you know, we're building to last and we're building to save. And and not only is it part of that save is the occupants and the and the items in the building, it's also to save money over a long term. And and you just you have to educate, and that's the biggest part of. Yeah. Yeah. I mean if you if you take the the easy way or the or the cheap way or the yeah, then you know, water, yeah, that's your biggest enemy and and that's gonna happen and we see it all the time. we do. We do. And in today's and and you know, today's penetration solutions on our general building, you know, they fail. And d the the the standard life cycle of a penetration is gonna be about two years. I I I made a healthy living with p preventative maintenance plans because I always knew after two years the ceiling's gonna fail. I I'm I'm in Texas. We have a very high UV exposure. W not only that, we have hot and cold. It could be it could be a brisk sixty degrees on an October morning but ninety degrees in in the afternoon, and that's a thirty thirty degree shift. The building is gonna expand and contract. And and what doesn't expand and contract is those those those those pitch pans or those the the you know the pockets, the pitch pockets, and they fail. And and so, you know, we're starting to see, you know, more of a thought process into that. So yeah, you know, it's it's it's a fun time to be part of it. Yeah, sure is. Okay, so tell me what what they're made out of and what the installation process looks like for a contractor. Yeah, so we you know, our our standard our core products. We have we have four core products in the vault line. They're called small, medium, mega, and giga. They're gonna be made out of your your twelve gauge or a point of aluminum. and they're they're they're heavy gauge and powder coated to resist the the nature's wrath, so to speak. and then we had they're insulated and we have two types of insulation. We have an R four insulation inside of it. And then we also have a vacuum compressed insulation that goes up to R forty. And from those, you know, they they're obviously they look like your standard curb. They're just more robust. and they go obviously down to the deck and and and we do have an you know standard installation method for each concrete, lightweight concrete. Wood, steel, you know, we're we're gonna have different insulation methods. And then we have our housing which goes on top of the curb and it's a little different. We don't we don't penetrate our curbs on the side of the roof. We don't allow that. We penetrate on the top because we're then sealing that with our housing. We're and we're sealing that with a a butyl tape and a compression fitting. and the compression is caused by the weight of the housing. And then we have a a very standard exit seal and that's as easy as running a whole sole right through the side of the box. and and they can run their pipes through through the exit seal. it it's it's as easy as installing any other roof curb that's provided by a mechanical or plumbing engine contractor. Okay. and let's talk a little bit about warranty because that's always important for the building owner. Yeah, this is my favorite part. So we offer a twenty year warranty is is is backed by an insurance company, which I absolutely love. You know, when I was growing up in the roofing industry, that NDL, you know, when you got certified as a roofer and you could provide that twenty year NDL, that was something you could be proud of. So I'm very, very, very proud of our our twenty year warranty. Nobody warrants penetrations. And and here here we are saying, you know what, not only will we stand behind our work, we'll stand behind it for twenty years. So I'm excited about that. on the cyclone side, we offer a three year and then our exit seals all also offer a twenty year. So, you know, I I'm excited to work for a company that just has a product that we're so sure of that we're willing to stand behind it for twenty years. Yeah. Yeah. That's that's a big deal. And like you said, nobody warrants that usually. And even the exit seal, right? You're warranting the seal. Yeah. Yeah. So, you know, you know, the the the funny the funny saying when I was growing up was the warranty runs out where the caulk begins or where the water enters. you know, you look at most standard warranties, they they stop where the metal begins and we're not that. You know, we're we're you know, give us what you got and we're gonna we're gonna take care of it. Nice. All right. So how can anyone listening, whether that be a roof consultant, a contractor, or maybe an architect How do they learn more about your solutions and get in touch with you? Yeah, so we have we have a wonderful website that they can go to rphproducts dot com. They can they can go to that. that's the right website now that I think about it. But and then of course they can reach out to our we use an independent rep firm. I have twenty independent rep firms throughout the United States and Canada. they can reach out to them. and then they can reach out to us directly. I I'm blessed to have a phenomenal inside sales team and they can handle any of the questions via phone or email. so we make it we we make ourselves pretty available. we're not like a roofer on a day that it rains. We don't turn our phone off. We we we we like to run to the problems. So we make ourselves available and we're trained to handle any of the questions that come in our way. And you c you can get away with saying that because you were a roofer. So let's just make that clear. Right. Yes. And I did verify. I did verify. RPH Products.com is your website. I have it pulled up right in front of me. And RPH Products also has a full directory on Roofers Coffee Shop. We've got lots of information over there about how to find them as well. Thank you, Peter, for being here today. What a great conversation. Thank you, Karen. I I loved it. I this has been a joy. And thank you, everyone out there, for listening. Be sure to subscribe on your favorite. Podcast platform because we want to see you on a future episode of Roofing Road Trips. We'll see you next time. Bye. If you've enjoyed the ride, don't forget to hit that subscribe button and join us on every roofing adventure. Make sure to visit rooferscoffeeshop.com to learn more. Thanks for tuning in and we'll catch you on the next roofing road trip.