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Rainy Day in the Office: Why is My Commercial Roof Leaking?

A commercial building with a leaky roof is not great for business, no matter what your company does. Office workers don’t like working in leaky buildings, and retail shoppers don’t want to shop in water-logged stores and supermarkets. Leaks can lead to costly slip-and-fall injuries, ruin stored merchandise, and damage flooring – to say nothing of the cost of repairing the roof itself. What can you do about leaks and, more importantly, prevent them from happening in the first place? Identifying Leaks Before They Start to Drip Dripping water from the ceiling is a good sign that you’re experiencing a leak – but it isn’t the only sign. If water infiltration occurs on the roof, it might not penetrate the ceiling of your building. If it occurs at the edge of your roof, it might drip into the wall. Neither circumstance will lead to an easily-identifiable floor-puddle. Here’s what else to look for: Mold: Spreading mold, or the smell of mold, on your walls or ceiling – especially if removed fro...
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The 7 Most Common Commercial Roofing Challenges

Very few roofs end up lasting for their projected lifespan. Any issue that arises during the installation of a roof will inevitably become magnified over time as sunlight, rain, snow, hail, and debris do their work. Ironically, even the process of inspecting a roof can in some ways bring about its early demise. Here are just a few of the biggest challenges that a commercial roof may face over its lifespan. Poor Installation A sub-par roofing installation is one that uses lower-grade materials and/or incorrect installation methods. Your goal as the owner of a commercial roof is to prevent this from the outset – getting it right the first time is significantly less expensive than fixing a contractor error. Installation errors can be the result of contractors misinterpreting a poorly-annotated design. They can also result from contractors who like to take shortcuts. Your best decision in either case is to hire a roofing consultant who can ride herd on both your contractors and your archit...
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It’s All About Performance: Efficiency in Commercial Roofing

If treated correctly, your roof could last anywhere from twenty to fifty years. Simply lasting is not a measure of roofing success, however—instead, you’ll want to look at lifetime costs. Picking the right commercial roofing materials up front, treating them properly, and investing in the correct infrastructure and maintenance programs will make your roof more efficient and more likely to last its full lifetime without incurring significant costs. Defining and Creating an Efficient Roof As far as the efficiency of your commercial roof is concerned, there are three main considerations you should take into account. First, you want it to have a low up-front cost Second, you want it to have a low energy cost Third, you want it to have a low maintenance cost In other words, a good roof will be relatively inexpensive up front and relatively easy to maintain. In addition, it will provide a good seal for your building envelope, prevented cooled or heated air from escaping. What does this roof ...
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How to Prepare for Thermal Expansion

Winter is approaching across the Northern Hemisphere, which means it’s time to prepare for thermal expansion—and its more dangerous cousin, thermal shock.  Thermal expansion is an inherent property of matter. When materials get cold, the molecules that comprise them slow down their vibration and contraction. At the scale observable to the human eye, this presents itself as shrinkage. When materials warm up, they gain energy and expand. When materials are exposed to repeated cycles of expansion and contraction, they tend to lose their flexibility and accrue damage over time—and this damage could occur to the materials in your roof. There are several factors that make thermal expansion more of a risk around this time of year: We’re moving from a period of general warmth to a period of general cold. The materials that comprise your roof will shrink, which makes it possible for gaps to open up between membranes, flashings, and penetrations—promoting leaks. If your roof has existing wat...
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Retail Rooftop Supports: Prep for the Busy Season

This year, as in years past, retail sales are expected to be literally through the roof. Not only do retail sales tend to spike between October 31st and December 25th, this year’s spike is expected to be up to 5 percent larger than in 2018. All told, consumers are projected to spend up to $1.1 trillion during this year’s holiday season. Why do you – a facility manager – care about retail roofing during this year’s holiday season? Here are some good reasons:       Let’s say that your single department store takes up an entire building, or at least an entire wing of a building. A roof leak or – much worse – a roofing collapse may put a large portion of the building, or even the entire building, out of commission. The store will have decreased floor space to sell items, and shoppers may be put off by the appearance of a disheveled building.       Let’s say instead that your facility is a mall where your tenants rent storefronts. Leaks and other roof damage wil...
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How to Install Rooftop Supports on a Sloped Roof

Not all roofs are created the same – or even with the same pitch. When we talk about commercial roof slope, we usually talk about a completely flat roof. With that said, not every commercial roof is flat. Sloped commercial roofs are common in several parts of the country, either for decorative or weather-related reasons. On the one hand, it’s as important to protect a sloped commercial roof as it is to protect a flat commercial roof. On the other hand, the pitch of a sloped commercial roof can make it difficult to design rooftop supports, walkways, and other features designed to improve the safety and longevity of your roof. How do you compensate for roof slope when designing rooftop supports? Commercial Roofs: Flat vs. Sloped  Why would someone choose a flat commercial roof over a sloped roof in the first place? Although flat residential and commercial roofs are the default in regions such as the West Coast, you still tend to see flat-roofed commercial buildings even areas like th...
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Ensuring the Best Performance for Commercial Roofs

How old is your roof right now? Given that a commercial roof may have anywhere from a 20-year lifespan to a 50-year lifespan, it’s likely that you didn’t inherit your commercial roof when it was new. What’s more, no matter how badly your roof was treated before you started working, the success of your job depends on making your newly inherited roof last as long as possible. Fortunately, resourceful facility managers can make a huge difference in the longevity and performance of a commercial roof. If you’re punctual about roof maintenance, inspection, and record-keeping, you can restore an older roof to its former glory and even keep it in perfect condition long after its projected lifespan has run out. Learn how to develop a strategic roof asset management plan that will help make scheduling and budgeting for maintenance easier and lead to better decisions. Understanding Your Roof Upon receiving control of your roof, you immediately need to know a number of things about it. It starts w...
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