You know your Fort Lauderdale commercial roof needs flat roof repair. Your professional roofing contractor identified several areas that call for money, time and attention. How should you prioritize the flat roof repair work your building needs? The worst way is to go with the small-ticket items first; the best way is to consider the effect the repairs will have.
Leaks
Leaks are the most threatening deficiencies in a low-slope roof. Leaks do not stop themselves and worsen over time. Make these repairs, no matter the expense, your first priority.
Though roofers and facilities managers commonly talk about flat roof repair, your roofer is really performing low-slope roof repair, and in that subtle difference we find the reason for the priority: a low-slope roof still allows water to move downhill, which means a leak can start in one place and flow down within your roof deck, entering the occupied space very far from its source.
Visual inspection, thermal cameras and physical probing of suspect areas can reveal the source of a water leak on the outside surface of the low-slope roof. If you have only enough money in a flat roof repair budget for one repair item, make it water infiltration, and make it a top priority.
Address Storm Damage
In and around Fort Lauderdale, the weather often seems to arrive with particular ferocity. Your next low-slope roof repair priority is damage from strong storms. While leaks are chronic issues, storm damage is an acute problem. It can come on suddenly and wreak havoc with your commercial property’s roof. You cannot ignore these storm-related issues:
- Blunt impact trauma
- Tears, gouges or perforations
- Clogged internal drains or scuppers
- Compressed insulation
- Wind uplift
Inspect
The annual inspection report from your local, reliable roofer should guide you in deciding on flat roof repair priorities. Some repairs may be under warranty, which makes them affordable and easy to choose. Other deficiencies may have a cascade effect, like causing problems with rooftop equipment or HVAC systems. Work with your roofer to determine, after dealing with leaks and storm damage, what flat roof repair work should be done next.
If you are having trouble sorting out the priorities of your commercial property’s roof, please consider a call to PSI Roofing. We can assess your roof, suggest strategies to deal with damage, and establish a baseline for measuring progress or deterioration. Contact us today.
