What to do When Your Commercial or Industrial Roof is Damaged

May 04,2017

If you own or have been involved in managing a commercial or industrial building, you know how important commercial roofing is.

People don’t usually give their roofing much thought until there are problems and in commercial properties preventing these kinds of problems is an important concern that requires the right building and maintenance practices.

Generally most commercial roofs are designed for long term performance, but still, some problems can occur during their lifespan. Problems can occur when the roof is not properly installed, not properly maintained, or not designed correctly. When looking to fix your commercial roof, you can fully replace, repair, coat or re-cover it.

Here are a few questions that need to be answered first, which will guide you toward the choices that follow below:

How old is the roof and how severe is the damage?

Is the building occupied and how problematic would it be to remove the roof?

Does the roof have the proper amount of insulation?

Does the building generate moisture?

Is the property owner looking for a short-term or long-term solution?

Here are some of the options available to help determine the best possible path to take:

Repair

Some roof problems are small and can easily be repaired, and they don’t require the expense of a full replacement. You can opt for repair if the roof has good insulation, the membrane is in good shape and the owner wants to keep costs to a minimum.

Re-cover

If your roof is damaged, it doesn’t necessarily mean that it needs to be replaced. If your roof has good insulation and is fundamentally sound, the most effective solution is recovering. Make sure that roof will be recovered only once and if the roof has only one membrane that you can put another on top.

Replacement

If the damage is too extensive and the roof has been recovered before, you need to replace it. If more than 30% of the roof is damaged and the owner is looking for a long term solution, a full replacement is the only solution.

Coating

Commercial roofs can be coated to extend their life. A few reasons to coat a roof are:

1. Extends the life of the roof
2. Protect from leaks
3. Improves aesthetics
4. Cost effective
5. Keep the building cooler
6. Energy saving by reflecting heat away from building
7. Less disruptive than a tear off




If your commercial property suffered roof damage and you are ready to take action, here are few things to keep in mind:
1. Document the damage as soon as possible If the roof damage is visible from the inside or outside the building, take photographs as soon as possible. These documents are an important step toward making an insurance claim.

When you contact the roofing contractor, show them the pictures as it will help them to know what the damage looks like and where it is located. Sending photographs in the initial report will help the roofing contractors and may speed up the process.

At Royal Roofing Ltd. we carry out a FREE evaluation of your commercial roof damage and our expert roofing surveying team will provide you with the best options to choose from.

2. Don’t put repairs off too long When you notice that your roof has been damaged, take the necessary action, as waiting only makes things worse or more costly for you to do the repair.

3. Before you climb up top, make sure that your fall protection solution system is in place The pull of gravity doesn’t get any weaker around your building, nor will the bottom or the concrete become any softer when you’re the one landing on that.

Property owners forget this stuff once they climb into their rooftops, and if there's a mishap, it's a lesson that will be learned the hard way.

Use all caution, precautions, fall-prevention and safety gear if you go on your roof to inspect it, but also ask yourself a simple question, is it worth risking your life or legal implications by sending somebody untrained onto your roof when professionals can do it for you?

At Royal Roofing Ltd, we provide a free no obligation survey so you don’t have to locate where the damage is and can leave all the hard work on our trained professionals. We have accredited roofing contractors in Calgary and have been serving clients for more than two decades. We will look after the roof and take care of your safety and schedule a plan that suits your budget.