7 Ways to Avoid Unexpected Commercial Flat Roofing Issues

As a facilities director, property manager or commercial building owner, you have enough on your mind versus adding roofing issues to your plate. Your commercial roof is an investment, and you want to ensure that you maximize its useful life. If you properly maintain your commercial flat roof, you can extend the life of your roof, while also avoiding any costly repairs or problems that can arise from lack of maintenance.

An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. And this is true when commercial roof maintenance. By maintaining and monitoring your commercial flat roof or low slope roofing system before problems arise, you can heed off costly repairs.

Common Flat Roofing Problems

A roof leak never happens at a convenient time. They are costly, disruptive and inopportune. By staying ahead of problems before they arise, you help prevent premature roof failure, and also show your insurance carrier that you are actively maintaining and caring for your commercial roof.

After your flat roof is initially installed, you should inspect it with your contractor so that you can have an idea what it should look like in pristine condition. After installation, your flat roof or low slope roof will slowly begin to deteriorate for numerous reasons, such as weatherizing and storms. Blow-off and moisture can begin to cause havoc to your roofing system.

Hail, snow, rain, and wind can all damage your roof over the years. If a low-slope roof is not properly installed, rain and get under a faulty seam or flashing and cause leaks to develop. In the event that you need your flat roof repaired, you will want to be sure to hire a licensed and insured commercial roofer to ensure that all the necessary steps are taken to restore your roof to full strength. Hiring the cheapest roofer for a repair or replacement can lead to additional expensive repairs in the future.

How to Avoid Unexpected Flat Roof Issues

1. Make sure that your commercial flat roof is inspected twice a year

Your flat roof is a very complex roofing system. All it takes is one ‘weak’ spot to cause leaks to develop in your roof, or cause your entire roofing system to fail. Two inspections a year ensures that you are staying on top of any potential issues before they arise Similarly, you should schedule inspections with your trusted commercial roofer after any major storms to ensure there is no significant hail or wind damage.

2. Stay on top of warranty information

Make sure you understand all of your warranty information. Not only the manufacturer warranty on the materials, but on workmanship as well. If a problem should arise, you will know who to call and what to do.

3. Keep you roof drains free of any debris

Ensure that your roof drains are all working properly. There should not be any sitting debris after a storm, or if there are trees nearby, be sure that branches are not falling off or damaging your roof.

4. Monitor repair spots

If certain sections of your roof have required patchwork repairs, be sure to monitor those areas to ensure that problem areas do not get worse. That means proactively checking copings and sheet metal and flashings.

5. Monitor roof flashings for tears, peels & wrinkles

Deteriorating roof flashings are a quick way for roof leaks to develop. Make sure to monitor your roof flashings for any punctures or tears or peeling before it allows water to seep into your building.

6. Examine for storm damage or delamination

Hail and wind storms can cause significant damage to commercial flat roofing systems. If hail punctures the decking on your roof, you want to make swift repairs or file with insurance if necessary.

7. Examining around A/C units for signs of leaks or moisture

A major leak spot for many buildings is roof mounted HVAC units. It is important to see if there are any defects in seams allowing for water to leak into your building.

Give us a call for help with any commercial flat roof repair or replacement services

Commercial roof repair can be stressful. You want to be sure that you are in good hands with a roofing contractor that specializes in complex commercial flat roof and low slope roof systems. Give us a call if you want a dependable, trusted, local Memphis commercial roofing contractor to help! We also provide bi-annual roofing inspections to help you examine for all those potential trouble spots listed above.

Contact us now to learn more about our maintenance plans. We have been helping commercial building owners around the Memphis metropolitan area for years!