INSIGHTS
Categories
Inclement Weather Planning, Part I
Mid-way through another hurricane season, now is a good time to review the benefits of having an established Inclement Weather Plan. Mother nature can be unpredictable, and in the event you are having a commercial roof repaired or replaced, damage resulting from severe weather can add both cost and time to even the most well-planned re-roofing projects. For this reason, your roofing contractor’s policies and procedures should include an “Inclement Weather Plan”. And to protect your commercial property investment, you should request this plan from your commercial roofing contractor in advance of signing a contract for any roof work.
MORECertified Fall Protection Systems
An industrial manufacturing client recently inquired about our firm’s ability to furnish and install a certified fall protection system for the roof of a building at one of their Gulf Coast manufacturing facilities. In this case study, we discuss what it took to make this happen and take a look at the fall protection system that was best-suited for their roof.
MOREBeetles Can Bore Holes In Your Building Envelope
Over thirty years ago, our company installed the roof on The Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts. Just before the museum's grand opening in 1987, we encountered an unforeseen obstacle — beetles had bored into the uncured EPDM material and died under the flashing, creating devastating leaks. Read our case study on what we learned, how we addressed the issue and how it informed our processes moving forward.
MOREDo All Flat Roofs Leak?
On occasion, roof system components have manufacturing defects that compromise the integrity of a low-slope roof. In these cases, roof system defects are often not known until a leak is visible inside a building. However, if you have a roof maintenance program in place, roof system failures due to manufacturing defects can often be caught and addressed before water makes it through the building envelope into the building’s interior.
MORECommunication is Key to Re-roofing Project Success
It’s a fact; commercial re-roofing projects are very different and are many times more complex than new construction roofing. Because of this, one of the most important components to a re-roofing project’s success is a healthy and productive line of communication between the owner, the roof architect/designer and the contractor throughout the life of the project. Here, we share what a good communication process looks like and offer up a case study that examines how open lines of communication helped mitigate unforeseen complications and ensure project success.
MOREPre-Qualification of Bidders
When selecting a contractor for your reroofing project, it's important to follow an established set of guidelines to ensure that your contractor is indeed qualified to handle the scope of work. In this article, we share a list of best practices for selecting the right contractor for your needs.
MORESelecting a Roof System: Modified Bitumen
With the waning popularity of gravel surface and asphalt built-up roof systems as well as the complete disappearance of coal-tar pitch roof systems, the use of modified bitumen roof systems has gained wide popularity. As to the building types to which modified systems can be applied, the use of adhered and self-adhered modified bitumen systems is nearly limitless. And by incorporating “liquid flashing” systems into modified bitumen applications, almost any type of roof detail can be addressed effectively.
MOREWhy Is Roof Maintenance Necessary?
When roof systems are inspected on a regular basis, issues related to roof drains, roof penetrations, flashing and trim can be identified early, and subsequent damage and down-time as a result of leaks can often be avoided. A consistent roof maintenance program will more often than not prevent leaks by identifying and resolving potential problems before they penetrate the building envelope and disrupt your operations.
MOREThe Pros and Cons of Exterior Gutters
Never having been a fan of using exterior gutters for roof drainage/water diversion, we typically advise our manufacturing, education and healthcare customers to avoid the use of gutters altogether. The reasons for such recommendations are numerous. But in instances like the one analyzed here, sometimes the soundest solution is to improve existing gutter systems to stave off possible water damage to the building envelope.
MOREHelipad Headaches: The Importance of a Properly Installed Vapor Barrier
A few years ago, our firm undertook a large roof replacement project on several sections of one of Pensacola, Florida’s leading hospitals. During the course of our work, the hospital began experiencing leaks in an another area of the facility – an area that was not part of our original scope of work. The hospital’s engineer asked our firm to investigate the source of the leaks. This is what we discovered.
MORE