Commercial Roof Maintenance: All You Need to Know

Regular roof maintenance will save you from common commercial roof issues and, in turn, extend your roof’s lifespan. Hence, having a maintenance checklist and plan is essential to maintaining your roof’s “health.” 

Regular roof maintenance will save you from common commercial roof issues and, in turn, extend your roof’s lifespan. Hence, having a maintenance checklist and plan is essential to maintaining your roof’s “health.”

Are you curious about how to maintain your commercial roof? You’ve come to the right place. This article is tailored to provide you with the knowledge and steps to keep your roof in shape. By the end, you’ll be equipped to schedule a maintenance check and protect your investment.

What Is Commercial Roof Maintenance?

Commercial roof maintenance is basically the routine care you give to a commercial roofing system to ensure it performs its primary duty of protection, durability, and overall optimum functionality.

This routine care involves many steps, including assessments, cleaning, preventive actions to detect and avert problems or potential ones, and repairs. The fundamental purpose of commercial roofing maintenance is to preserve the integrity of your roof and extend its lifespan. When you execute your roofing maintenance well, you will save yourself energy, time, and money.

As a general rule of thumb, a property owner should perform commercial roof maintenance at least twice a year. How frequently each property owner conducts theirs varies and depends on several factors, including climate, the roof type, the state of the roof, and the location. In many cases, roofing maintenance happens in fall and spring to prepare for inclement weather or tackle winter-related problems.

Steps for Commercial Roof Maintenance

• Perform regular assessments: Schedule an assessment of your roofing system to thoroughly inspect its condition. Look for leaks, damages, rot, mold growth, and potential problems. 
• Clear debris: Get rid of debris like branches, leaves, or any unwanted materials from the gutters and surface of the roof. This step is essential to prevent clogging. When your gutters and drains are clogged with debris, water becomes stagnant, weakening the integrity of your roofing system and causing more problems.
• Clean roof surface: Remove mold, algae, and dirt from your roof surface by cleaning it. Cleaning your roof improves its overall appearance and even its functionality.
• Fix damages: Whenever you detect a problem or a potential one on your roof, make sure you address and fix it as soon as you can. It doesn’t have to be a significant issue before you make it a matter of urgency, be it a puncture or storm damage. 
• Inspect penetrations: Be attentive to penetrations like skylights, vents, and HVAC units. The point of doing this is to ensure accurate sealing and security.
• Take preventive actions: Take preventive steps like applying sealants or protective coatings to your roof to make it more durable, increase energy efficiency, and resist severe weather. 
• Document maintenance activities: It is crucial to keep a detailed record of roof maintenance-related activities like repairs and inspections. This helps you track the state of your roof over time. It also helps you identify patterns and schedule maintenance when necessary.
• Get professional help: Although there are maintenance steps you can do without the help of a professional, we recommend employing commercial roof experts to get some professional intervention. They will be able to carry out detailed assessments and take necessary maintenance steps or repairs.

Standard Commercial Roof Maintenance Checklist

1. Perform maintenance checks on your commercial roof regularly. We recommend a minimum of twice a year, in the fall and spring.
2. Remove branches, leaves, and any debris on your roof’s surface and in the gutters to prevent ponding, which results from clogged gutters and drains.
3. Inspect your roof for damage or potential damage, such as leaks, cracks, punctures, and loose seams. 
4. Check the seals and flashings surrounding the penetrations on the roof, such as chimneys, vents, and skylights.
5. Clean the surface of your roof to get rid of algae and the growth of other microorganisms that will affect the roof’s visual appeal and weaken the structure over time.
6. Get a professional involved as soon as you detect roof damage. You don’t want that minor damage to escalate, do you? 
7. Ensure that your rooftop equipment, such as solar panels, is in good shape and adequately supported and sealed.
8. Confirm that the safety components of your rooftop, like anchor points and guardrails, are safe and in line with the safety rules.
9. Keep records of roof inspection, maintenance, and repair. The purpose of this is to have solid data for reference. 
10. Hire professional roofing contractors to perform roof checks and maintenance when needed, or at least once a year. 
11. Be proactive and tackle your roofing issues on time.

With this checklist, you can create a simple maintenance routine for your roof and stick to it. It will be beneficial to you in the long run and save you a lot of stress. 

Commercial Roof Maintenance Plan

If you have ever wondered what a commercial roof maintenance plan is, you’ll soon have your answer. It is simply a proactive strategy for the continuous care of a commercial roof system. 

It depicts a series of planned activities and processes to ensure that routine assessments, maintenance, and fixes are carried out to maintain the roof’s functionality and increase its lifespan. A commercial roofing plan is usually designed to fit the specific requirements and attributes of the roof. It includes assessment, cleaning, repairs, and precautionary steps. If you design your maintenance plan well, you will detect potential problems early, avoid severe damage, and extend your roof’s lifespan. 

This plan can also include keeping records and hiring a professional contractor.

Difference Between a Commercial Roof Survey and Commercial Roof Maintenance

Commercial roof survey and commercial roof maintenance tend to confuse people, but they are not the same. The former is a thorough examination of the condition of your roof, usually carried out by a professional. A commercial roof survey identifies problems or impending ones and gives a comprehensive report on the overall health of your roof. It helps property owners make well-informed roof maintenance decisions.

Commercial roof maintenance, on the other hand, is the set of activities and actions done to maintain the roof’s good state and ensure it continues to function properly. It entails cleaning, frequent assessments, and precautionary steps to fix any problems detected during the roof survey. Commercial roof maintenance aims to maintain the roof’s integrity and longevity. 

In conclusion, the survey offers helpful information for making wise choices and the property owner’s maintenance decision results from the survey’s findings. Maintenance is usually performed deliberately to ensure the roof remains functional and bankable.

Types of Roof Surveys

• Visual survey: This is the inspection of the roof’s exterior and interior to detect signs of leaks, deterioration, or any damage that is visible to the eyes. 
• Moisture survey: This involves the use of specialized equipment to see and estimate the moisture content of the roofing system. Doing this survey helps to detect water-damaged areas or spots that are likely to leak. 
• Core sample survey: To carry out this survey,  the surveyor extracts core samples from the roof to inspect the state of the roofing materials and determine their layers and what they are made of. 
• Infrared survey: This survey uses infrared thermography to determine the variations in temperature of the roof surface. The results can reveal moisture penetration or insulation problems.

Conclusion

It is vital for you to have a concrete objective for your commercial roof maintenance, as it is crucial to its longevity. The signs of deterioration or damage could be slight or pronounced. But whatever the case, you should always treat them with urgency. 

Now that you know these things you didn’t know before, we hope creating a checklist and scheduling maintenance for your commercial roof will be a breeze.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are the most common commercial roof problems?

The most common commercial roof problems include leaks, mold growth, clogged drains and gutters, poor roof installation, and seasonal damage. 

What is the best type of commercial roof survey? 

Experts usually advise combining moisture and visual surveys for the best result. Visual surveys allow for a detailed assessment of the state of your roof and spot visible wear and deterioration. A moisture survey, on the other hand, will help you find spots with possible problems that are not obvious and spots with concealed moisture. Hence, combining both surveys will give you the maximum results. 

How much does professional commercial roof maintenance cost?

The cost of professional commercial roof maintenance depends on what you want. However, the average cost is 15–30 cents per square foot. Therefore, if you want to work on a 20,000-square-foot structure, it may cost you around  $3,000 to $6,000. This estimate also depends on factors like the roofing system’s state and building.