Look before it leaks

By Paul Studebaker

Paul Studebaker, Editor in Chief

Inspection, information and predictive maintenance keep roof costs under control

The "out of sight, out of mind" thinking of building owners has contributed to expensive emergency repairs, lost production and premature replacement of industrial roofs. "Companies have lots of money tied up in assets," says Greg Walterscheid, an accounts manager for architectural consulting firm The Conley Group (www.conleygroup.com). "If they are not investing to maintain those assets, they will pay the piper in the long run, for example with many leak repairs or a several-million-dollar re-roof. They need to manage the 'forgotten asset' or they'll end up paying $9 to $12 per square foot to replace it before the end of its service life."

It's sad to realize these common, critical and low-tech components of essential infrastructure are often neglected to the point of catastrophic failure when proper roof care is so conceptually simple and cost-effective.

Get up there
Proper care begins with regular inspections. Experts recommend one to four inspections per year, with frequency depending mainly on the type and condition of the roof, the environment and how much traffic the roof sees. A relatively new, simple and high-quality roof with few penetrations in a mild climate may get by with an annual look-see, whereas an aging plant with lots of high-maintenance roof-mounted equipment and exposed to severe weather may need quarterly or even more frequent inspections.

"The roof is the fifth wall. When it leaks, it's an expensive proposition," says Tim Nelligan, president of Redondo Beach, Calif.-based United Cool Roof Systems (www.coolroofsystems.com). "Inspect it every 90 days. There are four seasons; inspect the roof four times a year."

Regular inspections routinely uncover debris on the roof and clogged drains. "Unless that roof is similar to a bathtub, it's going to leak when it rains," Nelligan adds. Look for bullet holes, tree limbs, and especially damage from HVAC and other maintenance personnel. "Sometimes it looks like they did the work in golf shoes. You have to go up after their work to see if there is damage."

Walterscheid recommends inspections twice a year. "Walk around and observe it after it's cleaned, once before winter while there's still time to fix things, and once after winter and before spring rains," he says. That will give you time to update your records and make an action item list to take care of before the season hits.
You don't need a trained inspector for every inspection. "A maintenance supervisor can do it," Nelligan says. "It's good to have a contractor come on a regular basis, but 20 minutes every 90 days can save thousands of dollars."

Every two years, have a specialist do a "hard" inspection, Walterscheid says. "Some companies go to a roofing contractor for this, which is OK if you have a competent and honest contractor," he says. "Others come to consultants like us."
Specialists have long used diagnostic and condition-evaluating tools, including infrared thermography, core sampling, materials testing and borescopes, but much of their value simply comes from a thorough visual inspection by someone who knows what to look for.


Figure 1. Roofing management software can help predict needs and schedules, and track performance year-to-year.

Know all about it
Many plants have incomplete and/or inaccessible records on roof origins, conditions and warranties. For most, the problem starts soon after the construction dust settles.

When the building is built, whichever decision-maker is there at the time is the one who specifies the roof. "It's supposed to last 10 or 15 years, so the owner ignores it, figuring, 'Somebody will have to replace it, but probably not me,'" says Steve James, president, Digital Facilities Corp. (www.digital-facilities.net), makers of roof-management software. The roof gets no attention from the plant manager, the construction records get lost, and after a while, nobody has any knowledge about the original roof.

At the same time, most companies are trying to get by with fewer employees. One person may be in charge of several or even hundreds of buildings, and he or she needs to have access to information to make good decisions. "For example, warranties are purchased at a price of 10 or 15 cents a square foot, and many owners don't have a good process for keeping track of them," James says. "They end up re-roofing a building that's under warranty. It's a disservice to put the responsibility for maintaining a roof on someone without giving them the information they need."

One of those "someones" is Henry Moncure, staff engineer and project manager for Philip Morris, Richmond, Va. In 1998, Moncure was asked to manage the company's roof plan. In many cases, warranties were not enforceable or were not being used. Actions such as the annual inspections required to maintain the warranties were not being done.

At the same time, project funding was limited. Moncure needed to prioritize roof repairs and match them to funds, and he needed to be more proactive to get money allocated ahead of time rather than ask for emergency funding.
"I put together an RFP for a firm to develop a database for all the facilities," Moncure says. "It would track leak reports to identify problem areas and update priorities."