Roofing contractors know this conversation well: a homeowner has an aging asphalt-shingle roof, but the roof is not quite ready for replacement, or the customer is not ready for replacement pricing.

That is where roof reconditioning is creating a practical new lane for contractors.

On May 21, 2026, at 9:00 a.m. Central, SoyLei’s Eric Cochran joins Heidi J. Ellsworth on Roofing Road Trips® for a conversation titled “Why Contractors Are Rethinking Roof Reconditioning.” The episode will explore how APEX-1132™ is helping contractors add a science-backed maintenance and restoration option for aging asphalt-shingle roofs.

Roofing Road Trips® is available through Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

APEX-1132™ was born from a simple question with a hard engineering answer:

Can soybean-oil chemistry be designed to help aged asphalt shingles perform better without turning roof maintenance into guesswork?

For SoyLei, the answer came from the original Iowa State University chemical and civil engineering team behind the technology. APEX-1132™ is built around SESO, short for semi-epoxidized soybean oil, an engineered soy-derived chemistry designed to balance two things that both matter on a roof: compatibility with the asphalt shingle and reactivity with the aged binder inside it.

Why the chemistry matters

Asphalt shingles age as the asphalt binder oxidizes, stiffens, and loses its ability to flex and hold protective granules. A roof treatment should do more than make a faded roof look darker for a little while. It should help address the aging mechanism that makes shingles brittle.

That is the design target for APEX-1132™.

SESO is engineered to penetrate asphalt shingles and interact with aged asphalt binder. The chemistry is intentionally balanced: enough compatibility to get where it needs to go, and enough reactivity to help improve the properties roofers and homeowners care about, including flexibility, granule adhesion, durability, and service-life extension.

That balance also explains why “more reactive” is not automatically better. Pure soybean oil has strong compatibility with asphalt but little useful reactivity. Fully epoxidized soybean oil has more reactivity, but it is the wrong fit for asphalt-shingle reconditioning because its high epoxide content gives it poor miscibility with asphalt. In practical terms, it behaves too much like oil and water: reactive, but not compatible enough to move through the shingle and work with the aged asphalt binder in the way the roof needs.

SESO sits in the practical middle. It keeps enough soybean-oil compatibility to work with asphalt while adding enough reactivity to interact with aged binder. That balance is the reason APEX-1132™ is not just a generic vegetable-oil spray, biodiesel emulsion, or copycat softener.

APEX-1132™ was developed for the roof, the shingle, and the contractor using it.

A better option between “do nothing” and “replace it”

Roof replacement is essential when a roof is failed, leaking, structurally compromised, or past the point of responsible maintenance. But many roofs reach a middle stage where the owner needs help and the contractor needs a credible recommendation short of a full replacement.

That is where APEX-1132™ can help contractors offer a responsible downsell.

Instead of walking away from customers who are not ready for replacement, contractors can offer a maintenance service that keeps the relationship alive, creates recurring touchpoints, and positions the contractor as the trusted roof advisor before the emergency happens.

For roofing businesses, that means APEX-1132™ can support:

• Downselling without losing the customer. Offer a maintenance path when replacement is premature, unaffordable, or delayed.
• Customer relationship building. Stay connected with homeowners earlier in the roof lifecycle.
• High-margin service work. Add a shorter-turnaround service line that does not require the same crew size, material load, or scheduling complexity as replacement.
• A practical backup plan. Keep revenue moving when replacement jobs are slowed by material availability, weather windows, insurance timing, financing, or supply-chain disruptions.
• A better maintenance conversation. Help customers understand roof condition, timing, and options before the roof becomes an urgent problem.

Easy for homeowners. Built for contractors.

APEX-1132™ is available as a 5:1 concentrate. One purchased gallon mixes with water to make six gallons of ready-to-apply treatment and covers approximately 1,200 square feet, or 12 roofing squares, of asphalt-shingle roof surface.

That consumer format makes the product easy to understand and easy to access.

For contractors, SoyLei supports a different path: direct contractor pricing, bulk packages, application guidance, and scalable supply for service businesses, maintenance programs, distributors, and professional applicators.

The contractor opportunity is straightforward: no franchise fee, no restrictive territory contract, no complicated buying path, and pricing designed to keep material cost under $10 per roofing square.

Support for the business behind the spray

A product alone does not build a service business. Contractors also need lead flow, estimating systems, customer education, job documentation, invoicing, follow-up, and a clean way to explain the offer.

That is why SoyLei supports white-glove business-in-a-box services such as Roof Reset, which help new and expanding roof-reconditioning businesses get started without building every operational tool from scratch. These services can support websites, CRMs, invoicing, customer workflows, and other back-office systems so business owners can focus on inspections, applications, sales, and service.

For entrepreneurs and existing roofing companies, that can turn APEX-1132™ from a product into a practical service line.

What the episode will cover

In the Roofing Road Trips® episode, Eric and Heidi will talk through the story behind SoyLei, the science of soy-derived asphalt technology, and how APEX-1132™ was developed for the specific needs of aging asphalt shingles.

The conversation will cover:

• how APEX-1132™ was born from Iowa State University research;
• why semi-epoxidized soybean oil was engineered for roof-shingle compatibility and reactivity;
• how APEX-1132™ differs from generic vegetable-oil, biodiesel, and fully epoxidized oil approaches;
• why roof reconditioning is becoming an important contractor service opportunity;
• how contractors can test the product on a small scale;
• how contractor pricing, bulk supply, and support programs work; and
• why roof maintenance can be a smart customer-retention strategy for the modern roofing business.

Listen, learn, and rethink what roof maintenance can be

Aging asphalt-shingle roofs do not always need the same answer. Some need replacement. Some need repair. Some need a credible, science-backed maintenance option that gives owners more time and gives contractors a better way to serve them.

That is the opportunity APEX-1132™ was built for.

Watch for SoyLei’s appearance on Roofing Road Trips® and learn why contractors are rethinking roof reconditioning with APEX-1132™.

Follow Roofing Road Trips® on Apple Podcasts or Spotify so the episode is easy to find when it goes live.

Want to add APEX-1132™ to your roofing business? Contact SoyLei for contractor pricing, bulk options, and application support.

Want to try APEX-1132™ on a residential roof? The 1-gallon concentrate is available through Amazon.