Making Roof Choices After Years of Neglect

It’s no secret, over these past few years many of our roof maintenance concerns have been on the back burner. After all, with vacant space abound and lower rents prevailing, it was difficult to justify expenses on proactive maintenance. Unfortunately, the side effect we’ve seen is thousands of problems that could have been prevented if they were identified and addressed earlier. Delaying a costly roof replacement project may not have only been desired, it may have been a financial necessity. As we begin to rebuild and reevaluate for the future, a focus group of our clients said they were reassessing their long-term goals and short-term needs in regards to their facilities’ roofing systems.

Roofs fail for many reasons. The causes of premature roof failure include poor design, poor materials, poor installation, lack of maintenance, natural causes, man-made concerns (e.g., material defects, incorrect or lack of response to roof problems), tenant abuse, change in building use, building component failure due to incompatibility of components, and rooftop traffic by other trades. Proactive roof maintenance can often detect early signs of failing components and allow time to mitigate the concerns and increase the roof’s service life.

Now, more than ever, you really should think about a RAMCON roof maintenance program to extend the life of the roof and drastically reduce the leaks that develop. All roof systems require maintenance. In fact, most roof warranties require it, so failure to do so may void the warranty, bring about an early demise of the roof and result in unwanted moisture intrusion, production and work stoppages. In addition, maintenance will extend the service life of the roof, thus promoting a key element of sustainability: long service life. Even better, some manufacturers will extend the warranty duration of your roof up to 25% (turning a 20 year warranty into a 25 year warranty) at no expense to you!

In most cases, roof systems protect 95 percent of a building owner’s assets, yet they are a relatively fragile component of a building. While many other building components are more visible and tend to be maintained on a regular basis, a roof system often is overlooked.

As previously discussed in many articles, leading causes of premature roof system failure include poor roof design and installation, neglect of proper maintenance and lack of appropriate repairs. Properly maintaining the roof can extend the service life, thus deferring costly roof replacement. This can allow time for financial planning for future replacement. It also helps ensure that there are no roof-related interruptions to the building occupants. As you begin to budget for 2014, keep in mind that RAMCON is available to assist you in not only fixing roof leaks, but preventing them before they happen at a fraction of the cost.