Why are you in business? We assume you could answer instantly: to make money, provide good jobs, improve your community, give back to the world, etc., etc. Too easy, right? Here’s a tougher one. Why is maintenance essential for your flat roof? Many building owners and facilities managers cannot answer. We can help!
Why Does Your Roof Leak?
A commercial roof leaks because gravity pulls water through any available opening in your building’s low-slope (flat) roof. We are talking about a hole as small as 1/8th of an inch, the size of a missing mechanical fastener.
Indulge us for a bit of mathematics, please:
- Say you have a 10,000-square-foot warehouse.
- This means you have a slightly more than 10,000 square feet roof due to overhang and slope.
- Every square foot is 144 square inches.
- The seemingly small 1/8th-inch hole has an area of 12/1000ths of a square inch, meaning 83 tiny, 1/8th-inch holes could fit in every square inch!
- Ignoring obvious threats from open seams or missing flashing, your “solid” commercial roof has 119,520,000 opportunities for tiny, water penetrating holes to develop!
Add a few other issues, like neglect, age, improper maintenance, or faulty repairs, and your roof is essentially a problem waiting to happen.
Commercial roofs leak when financially challenged owners feel they have to pinch pennies. They defer maintenance, hoping to save thousands of dollars on the necessary upkeep of their most vital building component; yet, the roof shelters the entirety of their business.
Your company roof may leak when Mother Nature doesn’t care a fig for your budget and sends along with an ice storm, a snow squall, an Ohio thunderstorm, or high winds.
Industrial and commercial roofs leak when an in-house facilities crew, stretched thin already, has to navigate a 10,000-square foot roof and try to find one of more than 119 million potential spots for holes.
Roofs leak when you ask your facilities crew to perform work without training, the correct equipment, or the right materials. Mismatching single-ply membranes, for example, is a leading cause of seam failure. You cannot use TPO to patch PVC, for example. And very few facilities crews can easily, quickly find the source of a roof leak in a low-slope roof.
5 Reasons
Chief among the reasons to have roof maintenance performed regularly, thoroughly, and professionally are these five:
- Regular, professional maintenance will extend the life of your roof — Suppose you have invested in a long-wearing, tough-as-nails PVC roof with a life expectancy (even with Ohio’s rough weather) of 25 years. Annual or semiannual maintenance could tack on an additional five years of “free” life!
- Maintenance will save you money over time — A small, regular investment in inspection, maintenance, and fast repair will always cost less than the cost of a complete tear-off and re-roof project
- A professional roofing contractor’s maintenance visits will keep your roof warranty intact — If you read the fine print (no kidding; it’s like 6-point type!) on your warranty, you will see you are expected to perform regular maintenance or the warranty is voided.
- Maintain the value of the building when you maintain your roof — Go ahead, spend money on upgrading your entryway, but don’t think for a moment you will get a better return on investment (ROI) than regular rooftop maintenance. Your roof protects walls, interior spaces, and, yes, even the spruced-up entryway. No other part of your building protects so much.
- Routine maintenance keeps your utility costs in check — A well-maintained roof that prevents roof leaks also cuts down on indoor humidity. You run your heating and cooling system less frequently (and for shorter periods) when your roof is properly insulated and watertight.
Enough of Leaks
If you want to avoid the prospect of losing your business from something as simple as a tiny hole in your roof, you need to enlist the help of your local commercial roofer.
If you want to tap into the benefits of roof maintenance, or if you cannot stand the thought of losing money on damaged inventory or employee sick days, you need to get a roofer to inspect and maintain your roof.
If you have had enough of the worry and are weary of the weather, get a local commercial roofer to tour your roof, assess its condition, and begin applying remedies right away. Only your roofer can put a proper stop to a roof leak, safeguard your business, and build a solid future for your building. When you partner with Damschroder Roofing Inc. in Fremont, Ohio, for help with your commercial roof, you gain the benefit of your years of experience. We provide plenty of reasons to make us your exclusive contractor for commercial roof maintenance, inspection, and repair. It is our business to help keep you in business. Please contact us today to learn more!
