Is it possible to extend the life of a roof?

When you consider a standard roof, you expect it to last, 20, 35, or even 50 years depending on the materials used. But because the roof is your building’s primary line of defence when it comes to fending off the elements, it is constantly exposed to a wide range of harsh weather conditions year round, and this can eventually take its toll.

Roof Maintenance

Cracks, leaks, and other kinds of roof damage can eventually become a serious problem that compromises the protection of your building. To avoid this and extend the service life of your roof, regular repair and maintenance is important.

Causes of roof failure

It is unfortunate that many roofs fail before they should, usually due to several factors including:

  • Poor choice of materials
  • Poor design
  • Poor installation
  • Natural causes
  • Lack of maintenance
  • Rooftop traffic
  • Building component failure caused by incompatibility of components
  • Man-made causes, like material defects or lack of proper and timely response to roof problems

Two components of extending roof life cycle

  1. Care and prevention
  2. Prolonging the life of your roof and increasing the return on investment (ROI) of your assets depends on many factors, including proper system selection and maintenance to provide long-term performance.

    To optimise roof performance, it is critical that you understand how to maintain different roof systems and prevent damage that is unique to each system. Knowing how your specific roof system is affected over time, and what actions are necessary to prevent premature ageing, helps to eliminate many of the common issues that occur.

  3. Inspection and evaluation
  4. A regular roof inspection plan helps identify issues before they become costly problems. As part of the roof maintenance program, you can include evaluations to add value for resale, through among other things, repair and maintenance history.

How a good inspection and maintenance plan helps

An inspection helps you determine the right time for an intervention. Of course, the objective is to prolong the roof’s useful life while avoiding the disruption, material waste, and high cost associated with a complete tear-off and replacement.

Proactive roof maintenance can help detect early signs of failing roof components, like cracks and leaks, and allows you to mitigate these problems in a timely manner to help avoid expensive repairs and extend the service life of your roof.

Who should you call for assistance?

To develop the right maintenance and repair plan, you should hire a professional company that can address your roof’s specific needs within your budget, and works in all Canadian seasons. For more information, contact the Empire team today.

How do you Ensure a Finished Job Meets my Expectations?

Most of the elements that would help ensure a quality roofing job are hidden from sight, so it might be hard to tell if the finished job meets your expectations. Much of the quality assurance process depends on the professionalism and trustworthiness of the roofing company you choose to contract for your project.

Expected Roofing Project

When you work with Empire Roofing Corporation, our experienced field supervisors are responsible for checking that all work is completed to superior standards. This extends to project cleanup, irrespective of the season when the project is undertaken. Our production manager follows up at the conclusion of each job to ensure your complete satisfaction.

It starts with hiring a quality roofer

The roof is a very important component of a building, and any kind of work performed on it should be exceptional, from small repair jobs to new roof installations. Usually, the bulk of what is spent on a roofing job goes for the skilled labour involved, while the materials themselves represent a fairly small portion of the bill.

This implies that choosing an experienced roofing company is the best way to protect your investment and ensure that the finished job meets your expectations.

  1. Get recommendations
  2. The easiest way to find a reliable roofing company is by shopping around and looking for recommendations of people who have worked with them before.

  3. Call references directly
  4. If you get multiple recommendations of good roofing companies to work with, you could narrow down your search by getting in touch with some of their references to determine whether they were satisfied with the work.

You could ask them questions like:

  • Whether they would use the roofer again
  • Whether there were any problems with the finished job, and how fast they responded to the complaint. Also find out whether they charged for the additional work
  • Whether the job was done within the agreed budget, or how much the project exceeded the budget
  • Whether the roofer caused damage to other parts of the property, and whether they cleaned up after completing the work
  • Whether there was a designated foreman available to address their concerns for the entire duration of the project

You could also visit some of the references to get a visual feel of the quality of work done by a prospective company.

Final note

Proper management of the roofing project is important to ensure a satisfactory outcome. Even as you check whether the roofer you want to hire carries workers’ compensation coverage and offers a warranty to cover leaks, flashing failure and other labour-related defects, you should find out the qualifications of the construction manager in charge of the overall project – as a competency check.

How do I Know if my Roof Needs to be Repaired or Replaced?

With time, all roofs wear out and need replacing. It is important to know the right time for a replacement so you don’t end up wasting money because you did it too soon, or alternatively, suffering from water damage and other disruptions because you waited too long. There are a few things you can do to get the timing right and identify early signs of roof failure.

Roof Assessment

Follow these simple guidelines to ensure that your roof is replaced at the right time:

  1. Hire a professional roofing company to perform a complete roof condition assessment
  2. During the assessment, your contractor should thoroughly examine every part of the roof, including: seams, flashings, attachment points, cracks at joints and corners, units and projections. They will also assess the roof for damage, deterioration, punctures, ageing, leaks, ponding water, etc., and will most likely do a test-cut (cut through the roofing material to see what’s under the surface layer, and if your existing insulation is saturated with water). This will allow them to properly identify the current condition of the window and decide whether repairs or a replacement is necessary.

  3. Are the costs of the repairs are high and frequent?
  4. When there is some kind of damage on your roof, you have to determine whether to simply patch up the damaged areas, or get a partial or complete re-roofing. Usually, repairs are reasonable if the leak or damage is on a brand new or sound roof. After all, you don’t want to pay for repairs only to incur replacement costs after a couple of years because your roof has reached the end of its life.

    However, when you reach a point where the repairs are being done too frequently, or when they add up to a cost that is greater than that of a roof replacement because the first roof was poorly installed or perhaps you used the wrong materials for your building’s location and design, it may be more cost-effective to get a new roof installed.

  5. Did the roof has surpass its warranted expected life? Have you been doing proper maintenance?
  6. How old is the roof? Many experts agree that a standard roof has a life cycle of between 20 and 25 years. However, longevity may also depend on whether the old roof was properly maintained, if it was installed over another layer of roof, or if it is properly ventilated.

    Many building owners decide to get a new roof when they spot irreparable damage on their roof, conditions such as water damage can cause a serious enough problem to need replacing. If the roof was installed over another layer, and has been in place for more than two decades, you probably need to get it replaced.

Final note

A new roof is a costly proposition, and in most cases, taking the right steps to get roof repair when small problems crop up can help reduce the likelihood of bigger problems that necessitate a replacement. However, there are instances when a roof replacement is the only option. Call in a roofing expert that works in all Canadian seasons to assess the amount of work that needs to be done, and advise you on the best cause of action. It’s an investment that will save your company time and money in the long run.

Can Roofs be Replaced in the Winter?

It happens every year: a business owner waits too long to deal with their roof issues, the Winter arrives, and issues arise. While the preferred flat roofs can be installed during winter months, roofs that have any kind of a pitch can be dangerous to work on in bad weather.

Replace Roof

When a leak occurs, the business owner may call a roofing company to come and deal with the leak.

The first consideration with Winter repairs is that real people need to work on the roof. A general roofing crew that needs to fix damaged areas may not be experienced in working in inclement weather, so finding a roofing company that’s not only professional, but used to working in all Canadian seasons is essential.

Before they begin fixing any problem areas, the crew will need to remove any snow and/or ice from the roof, and it’s likely that the bare roof surface can become extremely slippery and dangerous. Roofers need to move up and down ladders and if it’s cold outside, will likely have extra gear on, which adds weight. Considering all the additional barriers roofers need to face when fixing a commercial roof, it can be expected that the job will take slightly longer than it would in the warmer months.

An additional consideration is that roofers use a lot of different tools. Air compressors and nail guns may not work correctly if the weather is too cold because the compression and release of air in the system can cause humidity that turns into water. This water can freeze in the airline, and less airflow will be received by the installer. If the roofer does need nails for the job and this occurs, then the nails will not be installed flush with the roofing material.

Despite all of the above potential difficulties, you will be able to get your damaged commercial roof repaired or even replaced entirely during the winter months if you contact the right roofing company, and if the conditions are right. If the weather is too inclement to conduct a safe job, even the best roofers will be unable to complete the task. Look for a company who has experience doing this kind of work in the Winter and you’ll be able to maintain the structure of your building and the safety of your employees.