How To Maintain Your Commercial Roofing
Keeping your commercial premises’ roof in a good shape should be a top priority if you want to keep your business operational. A properly maintained roof keeps your building safe from natural occurrences such as rain, wind, extreme heat, and hails. This, however, means that the roof will be vulnerable to the agents of destruction. Once you install the roof, it starts to deteriorate in terms of quality due to decay and exposure to other forms of damage. Commercial roof maintenance, therefore, becomes a necessity for a prosperous business environment.
To ensure that the roof is in a good shape, you have to observe a regular maintenance schedule at your premises. Roof maintenance keeps the roof in shape and extends its lifespan. You will also save on unwanted repair costs that you have to incur once the roof is damaged. Regular maintenance of the roof is an investment that saves you thousands of dollars that could be incurred in its replacement.
1. Do Away with Drainage Problems
Poor drainage on the roof spells doom for your commercial house roof. If there are any flat areas on your roof, water will collect on the roof surface. Once the water remains on a spot for some time, you are likely to have leakages and roof decay.
To avert this problem, you need to install drainage pipes that will eliminate any water resting on flat roof surfaces. To check if a gutter is clogged, you can pour some water through it and observe the amount that drains off the other end. Regular inspection of the roof will help to confirm if there are water clogging spots on the roof. Once an area is identified as harboring water, it should be rectified immediately to avoid mold growth and roof rotting.
2. Check for Surface Punctures Regularly
The membrane covering your roof should remain intact at all times. Any perforations spell doom for your premise and business. You need to carry out an inspection for any puncture points on your roof. This can also be detected whenever it rains. Diagonal wrinkles in the flashings could also be an indicator to roof deck shifting. To avoid trickling of water into the house, ensure all puncture points are sealed by a qualified roofing contractor.
3. Clear the Roof Surface
To avoid excessive rotting and decay, you need to clear any debris lying on your roof on a regular basis. Nearby trees can drop off leaves and twigs on your rooftop, which interfere with the natural water flow. Heavy branches and twigs may have a more serious effect such as puncturing your roof membrane. The debris on the roof also traps moisture on the roof that accelerates the rusting process of your roofing material.
You can avert this problem by clearing or trimming the trees that deposit leaves on your roof. You may also carry out routine cleaning on the roof to reduce the contact time between the iron sheets and leaves. Leaching chemicals may also drip through puncture points and put your goods at a risk of contamination.
4. Adopt New and Advanced Roof Survey Procedures
Many roof survey companies may offer to undertake the inspection process on your behalf. However, not all roof contractors will do a perfect job. Poorly trained or lowly skilled roof contractors cause approximately 40 percent of roofing problems by leaving loopholes for further destruction.
It is advisable, therefore, to adopt other types of roof survey processes. You can also consider advanced technologies to boost your roof’s inspection accuracy. These technologies include electronic leak detection and drone surveys, among other related services. With improved technology, you will be able to identify probable future problems that allow you to prevent roof problems before they occur.
Healthy and well-maintained roofs have numerous advantages to your commercial enterprise. Once a thorough inspection is conducted, you avoid repair and replacement costs that could run into thousands of dollars. Regular checks and maintenance keep your commercial roof in check and prevents escalating problems that may cripple the operations of a business. As such, it would be wise to get a roof maintenance checklist to countercheck and diagnose common problems in your commercial roof.