Sooner or later, all roofs need repairs or replacing. Ideally, your flat roof should be replaced before you start to notice things that could add up to costly repairs. Unfortunately, many businesses don’t know the warning signs to look for to determine when their commercial roof needs to be replaced or repaired. The following are a few signs that it’s time to be thinking about call in the experts:

Signs :-

The seams and flashings on the roof system are starting to come apart. This is common on older EPDM roof systems where the seams were glued together. epdm-seams-pealing-up
Pin holes appear in the membrane. This occurs to mechanically attached roof systems, fully adhered roof systems and ballasted roof systems over time as the materials begin to break down. Once pin holes start to appear, the membrane is typically beyond effective patching. small-pin-holes-in-membrane-2
Numerous patches exist on the roof system. The more patches that exist on a roof, the harder it is to continue patching a roof, as new patches start getting applied over old patches instead of the base membrane. membrane-with-asphault-patches
The membrane itself has started to wear down, potentially exposing the scrim. If the scrim is exposed, the membrane is in need of replacement, because the scrim is located in the middle of a reinforced single ply membrane. Once the scrim is exposed, the U/V protection is gone, along with most of the weatherproofing.membrane-with-exposed-scrim
The EPDM membrane has pulled or is starting to pull away from perimeter walls and rooftop units. This occurs if fastening was not performed around the base of the wall or rooftop units. As a result, the membrane pulls away from the vertical transition, since that is the weakest point. membrane-with-exposed-scrim
Fasteners are poking through the membrane. This occurs to roof systems when the underlying insulation gets wet and shrinks. This is common in roof systems with fiberboard insulation. When this starts to happen, there are almost no ways to prevent it from continuing to happen, since the problem is the insulation, not the membrane.fastener-poking-through-the-roof-system-2
Asphalt patches exist on a single ply roof system. Asphalt is incompatible with single ply roof systems, and will actually eat away at them over time. The only way to repair asphalt patches it to cut them out of the roof system and patch over the opening.epdm-ashphault-patch-eating-through-membrane
The underlying insulation is damaged. If this exists in a few areas, the membrane can be cut out, the insulation replaced, and the membrane reinstalled. However, this method of patching is expensive and can quickly become cost prohibitive.
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If you see any of these scenarios on your rooftop, or other damages that look suspicious, contact a commercial roofing company like Chaffee Roofing to avoid exponentially more expensive repairs that would occur by waiting. Time is of the essence, as the change of seasons, and damage from the elements will only make the situations worse, and therefore, more costly.

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