Page 14 - School Planning & Management, April/May 2019

FACILITIES MY ROOF’S GOT A HOLE IN IT ...
when trying to reroof when the building is occupied.
Next, you must decide what roofing material you are going to specify. Many dis- tricts have a preferred roofing system that they use for the majority of their work. This is often based upon good long-term experi- ence with the product and/or good customer service from the available installers. Other districts use a more site-specific approach. In these cases, the materials selected may
vary widely depending upon the problem to be solved. A fluid-applied membrane might be used where useable life can be extended, or a completely new system might be used where the old membrane has failed and the wet insulation must be removed.
The next roofing decision is determining the scope of the work. Some districts put roofs that are 20 years old on a list for re- placement as part of their preventive main- tenance protocol. Others simply replace the
As always,
a lack of communication can turn a sound technical project into a failure.
entire roof once the leaks start, since it will only be a matter of time before the rest of the roof fails. Still other districts will do partial replacements and/or useable life extension where they feel there are portions of a roof that are still in good condition or can be made such with some attention.
Roofs fail in many ways. Clearly, identi- fying the cause of the failure is in everyone’s best interest. If the existing roof is a sheet product (EPDM, PVC, or TPO), there are three likely suspects—the edges, the seams, or the penetrations. Since sheet products tend to shrink over time, the flashing at the edges might be under strain. As the product gets older and more brittle, the seams
COMPREHENSIVE EVALUATION OF ALL ROOF COMPONENTS, STRUCTURES RECOMMENDED BEFORE MAKING DECISION TO REROOF
Roof leaks are often a nuisance for a building owner or property
manager. Often difficult to track down, leaks can cause damage to interior finishes and lead to tenant complaints—and, if not resolved, unhappy tenants. Those leaks can become a nightmare when a financial decision is made to replace the entire roof of the building... and it still leaks.
“Frequently, an exterior building restoration company, like Western Specialty Contractors, will get a call to come out and try to resolve the leaks. The conversation usually starts with an explanation that this is a brand new roof, that it has had issues from day one, and that the roofer has been out numerous times to satisfy the warranty to no avail. The roofer now says that the problem is not the roof, but something else. That news may be hard for a building owner to accept—after all, it was probably a significant financial investment— but most of the time the roofer is right,” said Thom Belgeri, department manager of Western Specialty Contractors’ St. Louis Roofing Division.
Most structures today are constructed out of many different materials that move at different rates. Marrying all of these components together is complex and, at the same time, can make the roof more vulnerable to errors and failure when reroofing.
“In roofing, details around penetrations at the parapet walls and around building systems are very critical to successful projects,” said
Belgeri. “Those are points where the majority of leaks occur. However,
in a reroofing project, even if all the details are done correctly, it may
not be enough. Often the materials located above those details has aged and weathered as well, leading to deterioration and allowing moisture through. That moisture then finds its way behind the newly installed roof.”
Belgeri says it is important to review the condition of the building’s components that rise above the roof level such as a penthouse, elevator shafts, stair towers, parapet walls and coping and to evaluate the parapet walls from both the interior and exterior. The most visible signs of potential avenues for water infiltration are broken/missing masonry, deteriorated mortar and sealant joints, deteriorated concrete, etc. Sometimes moisture can penetrate even what looks to be a solid wall, but may be porous. If those signs exist, there is most likely a leak.
When such repairs need to be performed, it is extremely important that the new roof is well protected and the original installer is notified, Belgeri said. If the reroofing project is just in the budgeting phase, it is important to evaluate those building components and make the repairs prior to installation of a new roof. It is not only the right way to do a reroof, but the most cost-effective technique as well.
Thom Belgeri can be reached at www.westernspecialtycontractors.com.
14 SCHOOL PLANNING & MANAGEMENT / APRIL/MAY 2019
WEBSPM.COM
PHOTO COURTESY OF BLUEFINN, LLC