The most advanced material prior to EPDM was Neoprene, something you’ll commonly find in wetsuits of the modern era. Knowing that, it may be obvious how much Neoprene wasn’t made to be a stable protection for the roofs of commercial buildings.

Because of the need for a stronger and longer-lasting material, scientists conducted experiments on polymerisation that would eventually win a Nobel Prize. However, it also found the monomer that would become EPDM in the 1960’s.

Neoprene may be good against tears and normal wear, but one thing that wetsuits don’t need to be is strong against sunlight and that was the major deficiency as a roofing material. Even without the advancements made with EPDM since its discovery, it was a better alternative.

Still, once the potential for EPDM was realized there was an urgency for making it stronger and that dream became a reality a decade later. As a single-ply material, EPDM is able to cover roofs in a single layer so it was imperative to find a way to connect those large cuts.

In the 70’s adhesive was ironically made with Neoprene, the very material that EPDM replaced. The seams of EPDM were connected with that adhesive, but as you may have guessed the UV rays had the same effect on Neoprene as before and the adhesive tended to fail.

Another decade passed, though, and Butyl took the place of Neoprene in the adhesive. It could take the punishment of long-term exposure to UV and weather better, but there was one factor that wasn’t accounted for: Human beings.

The adhesive was being cut into different dimensions and being placed wrong on many installations, so once double-sided tape came around the engineers behind EPDM had an idea. The material’s improvement from there was…seamless.