How to Extend the Life of a Commercial roof
Being able to understand how you can make sure your commercial roof lifespan as long as possible comes with understanding the issues that face your roof.
There are a variety of ways that your roof can either be impacted externally or have internal problems that can lead to extreme deterioration.
Below is a guide to help you understand the issues facing your roof and the solutions that can help improve its lifespan.
Major Issues
Rain
Rainfall is one of the biggest detractors to the lifespan of your roof. Light or heavy, rain can be counted on every year to batter your roof material and cause a host of problems.
Typically commercial roofs are flat which allows rainwater to collect in certain areas and cause damage due to the weight.
This collection of water can lead to slow damaging effects such as organic growth or asphalt leach. It can cause water to travel to the interior of the building and damage other parts of your business.
Heat
During the summer temperatures can get extremely high. This may cause the roof to absorb an unhealthy amount of heat. Over time, this can cause the material to break down and lead to a collapse in part of the structure.
It can also lead to the expansion of the roof material when the heat is extremely high, and then shrinkage when temperatures begin to decrease. This constant contraction of your roof can cause major deterioration and or failure.
Winter Storms
Across America, nearly 25 inches of snowfall piles up every year. This snow can sit on roofs for months at a time and freeze over especially on flat roofs. This weight can lead to major damage to the area where it sits. Also, slight fluctuation in temperature may cause some snow and ice to melt and seep into the interior of the building undetected.
What You Can Do
Clean Your Roof Drains
This is one of the simplest steps to follow when trying to lengthen the lifespan of your roof. There is a host of debris such as leaves, pine needles, acorns, pine cones, and a host of other detritus that will only add to the weight on your roof and clog roof drains.
This collection of debris can also create an environment that mildew and mold can grow in.
Prune Your Trees
Nearby trees can be a great help at cooling your business in the dead of summer. However, they are a huge liability if a storm comes through or rotting occurs.
You will want to keep trees that are close to your commercial building pruned so that during a storm or over the course of a tree rotting its larger limbs don’t fall off and damage your roof.
Maintain Your Roof Consistently
Keeping up with repairs and from time to time having a roofing contractor regularly look over your roof is one of the best ways to ensure its long lifespan.
Damage to the roof may not seem like a big deal if it’s over a small area, however, the initial problem can cause much larger problems if not fixed immediately.
Having a professional contractor like Champion commercial Roofing look over your roof once or twice a year can put your mind at ease, and give you good insight into what repairs need to be done.
