Commercial Roofing

A Different Problem

A house roof sheds water by slope. A commercial low slope roof holds water and relies on a continuous membrane, working drains and correctly built details. Everything that goes wrong goes wrong at the details, and on a commercial building the roof is an asset with a remaining service life, so decisions about it are budget decisions. We write our findings that way.

Survey Before Scope

• Membrane, seams, terminations, curbs, penetrations, drains and scuppers
• Drainage. Water standing more than forty eight hours after rain is a defect, not a puddle
• Core cuts, which show how many roofs are up there and whether the insulation is wet
• Infrared or moisture scanning to map saturation before anyone quotes tear-off area

Systems

What Is Under The Roof Sets The Stakes

The Metroplex is covered in distribution and light industrial buildings, and the roof over a warehouse is often the cheapest thing in the room. A single leak above racking can write off pallets of product, and a leak over a server closet or a retail sales floor closes part of the business while it is being fixed.

Then there is the equipment. Packaged rooftop units sit on curbs, and every curb, gas line, condensate line and conduit run is a hole in the membrane that somebody has to detail correctly. Older Metroplex buildings have been re-tenanted several times, and each tenant added units and exhaust fans without anyone tracking what happened to the roof underneath. So we survey the equipment as part of the roof, we photograph every curb, and when we write a scope we tell you which penetrations belong to units that are no longer connected to anything.