Installing a new roof system on a commercial building is a great long-term investment into the upkeep of any property. After all, everything starts with keeping a building watertight from weather outside.
One key component that many building owners seek when installing a new roof system is the manufacturer’s warranty that comes with the roof installation. A majority of roofing warranties given on commercial buildings in today’s market are either 10, 15 or 20 year “No Dollar Limit” labor and material warranties. There are warranties that are “material” only as well as some systems that can cover longer periods of time than typical 20 year periods but again, the most common are 10, 15 and 20 year labor and material warranties.
Even with the backing of a great manufacturer’s warranty and an installation by a great national commercial roofing contractor like Peach State Roofing, many times building owners have a misconception that they are “covered” for the lifetime of the roof system and that their responsibility with the roof is complete once the new roof is installed. This couldn’t be further from the truth. In fact, Peach State Roofing highly recommends that building owners take the time to read through their roof system warranties to understand what is covered, what isn’t covered and what is required from the building owner to upkeep the warranty.
Perhaps one of the most important line items for building owners to pay attention to in any manufacturer’s warranty is the line item on roof top maintenance. Most manufacturer’s spell out that the roof system requires “semi-annual” inspections and roof maintenance that includes keeping the roof free from debris and foliage. This is especially important around key roof drainage areas such as roof drains, scuppers, gutters and overflow drainage. A building owner should hire the installing roofing contractor to visit the site to clean around any drainage areas and provide a documented roof inspection report on a semi-annual basis. Not only will this meet the requirements to keep up the roofing manufacturer’s warranty in place, but it will also prevent the building from experiencing major roofing issues such as deterioration or even catastrophic roof collapse.
In the past, Peach State Roofing service technicians have visited roof systems where water can be built up sometimes as much as 4 and 5 inches deep of water which can be extremely dangerous on a commercial building. It might be due to leaves clogging around drains or trash filling up a downspout. Sometimes technicians will find actual plant growth in the drainage areas which is extremely harmful to the roof and drainage systems. If a commercial property has operations inside which spill out any by-products on to the roof, this should be highly monitored and cleaned as well. Some examples in the past include business’ with dryers and washers which spit lint out onto the roof or restaurants which spill out grease build up. Either way, inspecting a commercial roof on a regular basis is key around the field of the roof and drainage areas for liability and long-term maintenance reasons.
It is never too late or too early to start regular building maintenance. Pull out the past roof warranties and take the time to read through them and ask questions about key points. Finally, start today with contacting Peach State Roofing for pricing and scheduling for semi-annual roof maintenance site visits from any of our full-service locations across the United States.