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Creating Climate-Resilient Roofing Designs for Commercial Buildings

The climate is indisputably changing. We notice it in things like hotter summers, more intense storms, and longer hurricane seasons. What we notice, your roof notices too. Depending on the location of your building, you’ll find that extreme weather will impact the design of your roof – and what’s more, extreme weather is likely to keep on getting more extreme. This means that in order to maximize the lifespan of your roof, you don’t just need to build: you need to overbuild, anticipating the ways in which climate will change in order to meet a moving target. How do you create resilient roofing in the wake of a changing climate? Climate Concerns Make Resilient Roofing into a Challenge Although winters may be getting milder overall, a warming planet leads to more moisture in the atmosphere – so when snow happens, you’ll see more intense blizzards. This has obvious implications for roofing – but some of the implications are less clear. For example, you might see occasional heavy blizzards...
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Safe Access Over Rooftop Obstacles

Your rooftop is crowded. As far as your rooftop is concerned, your workforce may need to navigate next to steep drop-offs, over ledges, around cable runs, and past skylights. Putting a foot in the wrong place can have negative consequences, if you’re not careful. As a commercial building owner or manager, it is your responsibility to provide a safe rooftop access system, safety equipment, and safety training for your maintenance workers, contractors, and building personnel. Here’s what you need to know. Provide Safe Rooftop Access Systems or Suffer the Consequences They say that “every safety rule is written in blood,” and the safety statistics for rooftop accidents bear this statement out. In the entire industry of building construction and maintenance, rooftops are one of the largest sources of accident, injury, and lawsuits.   Between 1992 and 2009, falls from rooftops made up 33 percent of falling-related fatalities within the construction industry   OSHA requires building...
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Where Roofing is Concerned, Sustainability Starts at The Top

Commercial buildings are getting larger. Of the 55 percent of buildings built between 1960 and 1999, the average size is 16,300 square feet. Meanwhile, the buildings built since 1999 have an average size of 19,000 square feet – an increase of almost 3,000 square feet. What does this have to do with sustainable roofing? Bigger buildings mean bigger roofs. A one-story warehouse with an average size of 19,000 square feet will need more than 19,000 square feet of roofing material to cover it up. That’s a vast amount of surface area – surface area that’s usually flat or at a very slight pitch. In other words, it’s a surface that makes a perfect foundation – flat and barely occupied – for sustainability. If you found an extra 19,000 square feet of space in your building, you’d use it for something, right? And since you can’t really use a roof as a loading dock or a packing and sorting facility, your best bet is to use your roof to pay for the rest of your building. Using the right materials,...
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Creating Climate-Resilient Roofing Designs for Commercial Buildings

The climate is indisputably changing. We notice it in things like hotter summers, more intense storms, and longer hurricane seasons. What we notice, your roof notices too. Depending on the location of your building, you’ll find that extreme weather will impact the design of your roof – and what’s more, extreme weather is likely to keep on getting more extreme. This means that in order to maximize the lifespan of your roof, you don’t just need to build: you need to overbuild, anticipating the ways in which climate will change in order to meet a moving target. How do you create resilient roofing in the wake of a changing climate? Climate Concerns Make Resilient Roofing into a Challenge Although winters may be getting milder overall, a warming planet leads to more moisture in the atmosphere – so when snow happens, you’ll see more intense blizzards. This has obvious implications for roofing – but some of the implications are less clear. For example, you might see occasional heavy blizzards...
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4 Proven Products for Commercial and Industrial Roofs

Building managers must contend with various obstacles and elements that can wreak havoc on commercial rooftops and any equipment stored on them. Each aspect of the roof—from the membrane to the roof edge—requires regular maintenance and inspection. Without the right rooftop equipment, however, your workers will be unable to do their job without endangering themselves or the commercial roof that they’re trying to protect. In order to ensure the safety of your workforce and the longevity of your roof, facility managers need to invest in these four proven products. By investing in rooftop supports, access walkways, equipment platforms, and more, you’ll be able to dramatically extend the lifespan of your roof—recapturing your initial investment several times over. Rooftop Equipment Platforms A lot of equipment goes on top of the commercial roof because it’s not easy to fit anywhere else. Generators, HVAC pumps, satellite dishes, and even telecom antennae are all commonly placed on commerci...
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How Rooftop Supports Bring Efficiency to Roof Maintenance Management

Regular maintenance is essential in preserving the condition of your commercial roof and ensuring its longevity — as well as helps building managers save money in the long run by avoiding needless and unexpected repairs. By utilizing rooftop support equipment, building managers are taking proactive steps to protect commercial roofing and making it easier for maintenance personnel to perform routine commercial roof maintenance. How Does Commercial Roof Maintenance Fail Without Rooftop Supports? Let’s imagine a commercial roof without any traditional rooftop supports. Pipes, cables, and ventilation ducts simply lie on the roof surface, there are no equipment platforms, there are no stairs or crossovers, and there are no elevated access walkways (with built-in railings) near the roof perimeter. The first problem is that it becomes much harder to inspect certain parts of the building. In a nutshell, any time employees work closer than 15 feet from a roof edge, OSHA regulations require the ...
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Repair or Replace? How to Decide on the Future of Your Commercial Roof

When you discover issues with your commercial roof, you may wonder whether a total roof replacement is in your near future, or whether you can get by with a simple repair. We discuss common signs of trouble, what they could mean, and how to make the right decision for your roof. Will Your Roof Live Out its Designed Lifespan? Most commercial roofs get replaced long before the theoretical lifespan of their materials runs out. An asphalt roof might technically last up to 22 years, but without regular inspection and maintenance, it may only last 15. A TPO roof might last up to 30 years, but if it’s exposed to constant UV or assailed by windborne debris, it might only last 20. Your goal as a facility manager is to make sure that your commercial roof lasts as long as possible before it needs replacement. This means that the expense of paying for a new commercial roof (which can be vast, depending on the size of your building) will be amortized over many years, diminishing its relative expens...
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