Businesses from Miami up to West Palm Beach know the unique challenges of our Atlantic Ocean-facing shoreline. Weather presents plenty of issues for any commercial roof. Second only to hurricane-force winds and heavy rain, ignorance is your roof’s greatest enemy. Know these three concepts about your commercial flat roofing and you will be well on your way to a long life for your building’s roof.
1. Your Roof is Not Flat
Commercial flat roofing is not really flat, which means it has a slight pitch (low-slope is the term) to allow drainage. This means the scuppers around your roof’s perimeter wall have to be clean and clear; otherwise, water backs up, sits on the roof, and crushes the insulation. This leads to low spots, which lead to ponding and leaks.
2. Your Roof is a Complex System
Gone are the days when you could dismiss your roof as a single barrier against a little rain. From the roof deck up through its many layers, your building’s flat roofing is a complicated, integrated system. Every part reinforces the other parts. This means the deck, insulation, various roofing material layers (bitumen-soaked felts, single-ply membrane, or reinforced modified bitumen), waterproofing, flashing, drains, and fastenings all work together to not only keep water out, but preserve building integrity and lower cooling costs.
PSI Roofing knows that a single visual inspection on just the roof’s surface does not take into account all areas. This is why we can provide many services to deal with your roof’s complexity:
- Roof Monitoring
- Roof Maintenance
- Roof Assets Management
3. Plan For Succession
While some roofing materials have been around for centuries, no roof by itself lasts forever. Efforts to extend the useful life of your property’s flat roofing will eventually lead to diminishing returns. Waterproofing can add a few years, but if costs to maintain your building’s flat roofing are climbing quickly, consider roof replacement soon.
Work with your qualified commercial roofer to build a plan of succession. If you plan on annual inspections and more frequent maintenance as the years unfold, you can build a reroof into your budget on your terms, not your roof’s. The last thing your business can afford is emergency roofing, so invest in roof assets management early in the life of your roof.
Contact PSI Roofing today to find out more about how to get the most from your flat roofing.
