With the Fall Season upon us, it’s time to prepare your commercial roof for what’s to come. Preparing your roof for the Fall weather is important not just for maintaining the appearance, but for the life cycle of the roof and the structural health of your property. We’ve compiled a shortlist of things to do to get your commercial roof ready for the Colorado Fall weather, which can bring temperature extremes, and other challenges that affect your roof. 

1. Checking Your Building Gutters & Debris Build Up:

Just like a residential roof, a commercial roof’s gutters and drainage systems need to be cleaned out regularly.   Overflowing gutters can cause structural issues by dumping water directly at the foundation of your building. They can also cause issues higher up by causing  water to back up and overflow behind the gutters.  This can damage fascia as well as run behind the walls, causing any number of problems from mold to electrical issues.   

At Colorado Superior Roofing, we recommend that your commercial building gutters need to be cleaned twice a year.  However, depending on your building location and landscape, the number of times you may need to clean your gutter can vary.  You may also want to consider gutter guards to avoid this headache if your building is surrounded by a lot of trees.  

In addition to clearing normal debris from your gutters such as leaves and pine needles, another reason to perform this task (or get gutter guards) is to help eliminate pests from nesting in your roof. When pesky critters get into your gutters they can create a nest that will often time clog the water drainage from your commercial roof system and lead to some of the problems referenced above.  Overall, maintaining and cleaning your gutters will help increase the lifespan not only of the gutters but also of the areas around the gutters such as siding stucco, and fascia.  

2. Inspect Your Commercial Building for Puddling or Pooling Water:

Inspecting your flat roof for standing or pooling water is key to maintaining your roof’s overall life expectancy.   This is typically caused from clogged scuppers or drains, and is an easy fix.   However, it can sometimes be symptomatic of bigger problems such as damaged iso boards or insulation beneath the flat roof membrane surface.   If you don’t catch pooling water on your building in time,  the water can eventually seep down through the roof and start breaking down the materials that will cause your roof to rot away over time; not to mention the damage it could cause to the interior.  

Obviously, the best time to check for standing water on your roof is within 48 hours after a rain storm or snow melt to ensure that no major damage is caused to your building.  Doing this a couple of times per year should be sufficient.  

3. Check Your Commercial Building Roof’s Flashing:

Flashing, also known as joint covers, is a thin material that is found on the outside layer of your commercial roof. It’s used to direct water away from certain high-risk leak areas such as where your roof meets other obstacles or penetrations such as headwalls, pipe jacks, skylights, HVAC units or chimneys.  Damaged or bent flashing is a usually a pretty noticeable condition and is a very common cause of roof leaks.   

4. Repairing Minor Issues and/or Damages on Your Commercial Building:

Most routine roofing problems can be dealt with fairly quickly and cost effectively.   But remember, it doesn’t take long for a small roof problem to turn into something that can be very costly.   Water can cause a wide variety of damages, both visible and hidden.  Saying on top of these little issues will not only save you a lot of money and headaches but it will also significantly extend the life of your roof.  

5. Consider a Roof Maintenance Plan: 

Hiring a trustworthy roofing contractor to handle your ongoing commercial building’s roof maintenance helps give you peace of mind while also allowing your partnered company to have an outstanding record of your property’s roof’s inspections and know all recent up-keep that has been performed. 

At Colorado Superior Roofing (CSR), we recommend that our commercial roofing customers consider a roof maintenance plan, especially those that have flat roofs.   These plans can be relatively inexpensive (a few hundred dollars per year) and can give you peace of mind as well as easily paying for themselves over time. 

As part of a roof maintenance plan, through Colorado Superior Roofing, we will send out one of our trained technicians two to three times per year, depending on the type and age of the roof.   During our visit, your building will be checked for proper drainage, insulation, ventilation, moisture, mold, and debris.   

Despite its importance, proper ventilation is one of the most often overlooked areas in commercial roofing.  It’s routinely missed by building inspectors too.  So sometimes these problems go on for years without being properly diagnosed.  That leads to premature aging of roofs as well as other issues.  Insulation is another big issue.   Not only does proper insulation help keep your ideal temperature in your building, it also lowers your energy bills by creating greater energy efficiency.   

Over the last few years, many metro areas have enacted a commercial and multi-family energy benchmarking requirement. This requirement means that existing buildings are required to report on annual energy usage and will be scored based on the performance of the commercial building. These scores are often made public for everyone to see which can influence or discourage future tenants.  

Fall and Winter can be really hard of roofs in Colorado, so now is the time to take a look at your roof, or hire someone else to do it, before it gets too cold or becomes covered in snow for weeks on end.    

At Colorado Superior Roofing your commercial building is important to us and we stand by our service. By choosing CSR, you are ensuring that a certified roofing expert crew is addressing any issues you might have on your building, what work has been done, and what work needs to be done outside of your maintenance agreement. With years of experience working on a wide variety of commercial buildings, CSR is a great option for your commercial roofing maintenance company!

Give us a call today to book your free consultation or inspection!   303- 937-7000

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