Commercial Metal Roofing: Preventative Maintenance Checklist for Facility Managers

Depending on your location, your facility, and accompanying metal roof can take a beating from the weather. Elements like strong winds, hail, rain, ice, heat, flooding, and even earthquakes can wreak havoc on the stability of your facility.

Whether you have a 10,000 or 100,000-square-foot facility, it’s important to perform regular maintenance and checkups to ensure everything is safe and stable. While it’s a good idea to have your roof professionally inspected after a storm or on an annual basis, a facility manager or crew can still perform regular inspections. Simple problems and issues can be easily identified and solved without calling a professional.

Preventative Maintenance Checklist for Facility Managers

Here is a checklist that can help any facility manager keep their roof in good order between professional inspections and maintenance:

• Check downspouts for clogging on both ends to ensure they are evacuating water as well as they should.
• Check downspouts for other damage like crushing or leaking as to properly direct drainage.
• Clear foreign debris from rooftop gutters and header boxes, and further inspect for damage.
• Some roofs have scuppers, which are drains at the ends of the roof. These need to be periodically checked for debris and clogging.
• If your roofing system uses an internal gutter system, it’s important to check and clean them periodically.
• If your roof has windows or skylights, it’s important to fully inspect and clear the weep holes around each fixture.
• There are generally lots of objects on a commercial roof, so it’s important to ensure all rooftop units and PV penetrations are watertight and securely fastened.
• General cleaning of the rooftop can eliminate pooling water and rusting. This can result from the buildup of leaves, sticks, and other foreign objects.
• Take note of the overall stability of the roof. If the roof appears to be sinking or if lots of water is pooling in certain places a professional should be called immediately.
• Surveying the roof as a whole for general wear and tear, loose components, weathering, or missing pieces can help prevent a small fix from becoming a costly expense.
• If your facility has trees surrounding it, ensure that no dead limbs are in danger of falling onto the roof. Large tree limbs can break off during storms and puncture metal roofing, not only causing holes but extensive water damage.

Call In a Professional

While most simple maintenance can be taken care of by a facility manager or crew, hail damage and other major problems should be addressed immediately by a professional metal roofing contractor like WaterTight Roofing. If your roof is aging or has just been through a severe storm there may be damage that isn’t completely evident to an untrained eye.

Professional metal roofing contractors can identify places where damage has been done even if it isn’t visible. They also can find areas of concern and work with your team to help them be more effective in between professional visits. Spending money on proper maintenance and repairs today can save lots of money in costly repairs tomorrow.

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