Prevention is the best practice
There is no way to really stop the elements from doing some type of damage to your roof. That is why taking preventive measures, like adding walkways or using better roofing materials is always a good maintenance step.  But in case, you cannot do that, there are some important maintenance steps you can take that will help give your new roof a longer lifespan. Maintenance takes a little work but repair and replacement takes a lot of work.  Plus, those two options are far more expensive than spending some money maintaining your roof.

Create a roofing maintenance plan
This is always a good idea as it can be used to train new maintenance personnel as well as guide your current maintenance workers. Having a good plan of action to follow helps keep your roof in top shape. Here are some tips for what you should include in your plan:

1. Know your roofing material and the tips to keep them in good shape- to all roofing materials can be cared for in the same manner. Knowing the difference helps you prepare maintenance products to lengthen the roof’s life.
2. Create a maintenance budget- different roofing materials cost different prices when it comes to maintaining, repairing, and replacing them. Make sure you have enough money in your roofing budget to buy all the materials needed to maintain the roof.
3. Check your roof warranty- if it covers maintenance then you are well ahead of the game. Your workers can see if the damage is covered and will have a phone number to call in approved roofers to do the work
4. Separate DIY from professional fixes- this section will tell your workers what they can work on and what areas they should not touch but leave to professional roofers. This saves them from making costly mistakes
5. Lay out the process for fixing different roof items- have instructions on what to do if the vents need work, the drip edges need upgrading, and other key roofing components maintenance. These instructions can help avoid making a small problem worse

Tips for maintaining your commercial roof
Most building owners are not roofers. They know how to rent the place out, do general clean up, and so on but when it comes to maintaining a roof, they need tips to guide them. Here are some key tips to guide your roof maintenance program.

#1. Hire someone who knows the roofing material- this is an important decision to make. Regular maintenance workers may not know all the roofing materials or how to maintain them.  Having one person on staff who knows that specific roofing material saves money, and time and spares you a costly repair or replacement cost.

#2. Provide walkways- if there are a lot of people going up on your roof on a daily basis, then have them walk on these walkways. They will spare the degrading of the roofing materials by reducing the foot traffic to none at all.  Keeping your roof in top shape means cutting down on wear and tear as well as accidents. These walkways are for roof workers as well.

#3. Watch the roofing equipment- when workers go up on the roof make sure they are aware that they need to be careful with their tools and roofing equipment.  Accidents can happen even with professional roofers and to keep your roof lasting longer, you need to have the workers avoid damaging the roof with these items.

#4. Pick the right roofing material- some roofing materials are better than others and the best way to maintain your roof is to buy one guaranteed to last for decades.  Sort through the different roofing materials and pick the best option for your building’s situation

#5. Clean the roof- you will want to do this on a regular basis as debris and other items can damage the roof when left alone. Tree branches, dust, and other debris can wear a roof down, clog water vents, and do other damage.  It is best to sweep and wash the roof at least once a month if not more to avoid damage to the roofing material, vents, flashing, and so on.

#6. Schedule regular inspections- you cannot maintain the roof if you do not know something is wrong up there. Regular inspections will spot any areas that need maintenance work.  These inspections help you avoid seeing a very minor problem turn into a very major one. They will cut your roofing expenses down so they are affordable.

#7. Trim overhanging tree branches- moving branches can damage a variety of roofing materials. This means that you need to trim any branches you see hanging over your roof, even if the tree does not belong to you.  Prevention is the best maintenance and this is a great prevention method to utilize.

#8. Fix the problems ASAP- nothing good comes from waiting till later when it comes to roofs. The longer you wait to repair a roof problem, the more expensive and extensive it gets.  Fix all roof issues as soon as you see them to avoid creating a bigger problem than you currently have.

#9. Keep petroleum and other hazardous products off the roof- spills will do a lot of damage. If you need these products on the roof for roofing purposes, watch that you do not tip the cans over or spill the liquids.  Also, make sure to remove the cans as soon as the workers leave for the day. Preventing accidents is good maintenance.  When your building has not had a lot of maintenance done on it, call our company Motor City Roofers. We are Detroit’s go-to roofing company and we handle all sorts of roofing issues.

We can do inspections, maintenance, repair, and even replacement work at an affordable price. Protect your roof by calling in our experts to see what needs to be done to extend your roof’s lifetime. When you want the best results you call in the best. Call our office today.

Owning a roof can be expensive
Many building owners, residential or commercial, sometimes think that once the roof is replaced, there are no more costs involved till it is time to replace the roof again. That cannot be further from the truth as roofs do not always remain in top shape for 10 to 30 years.  Storms and other influences take their toll on your roof and you may be surprised by the annual costs you have to pay to keep your roof in top shape. There are a lot of costs involved when you have to repair or replace your current roof.

The type of roof matters
No matter the type of roof your building has, you can expect to replace individual shingles or make other repairs if you find a problem. The type of roof your building has will dictate the cost of repair.  For example, a standard asphalt shingle can cost roughly $4.25 per square foot while a premium asphalt shingle can cost over $8 per square foot. An aluminum shingle roof may last longer and have fewer repairs but expect to pay more per square foot than an asphalt replacement will.  Flat roofing materials, like rubber, EPDM, PVC, and so on, maybe a bit cheaper as the material costs are between $5,50 and $7.50 but you are paying more for the labor involved.  In general, the variety of roof types available can cost somewhere between $4.25 and 28 per square foot. But the overall cost will depend on how many shingles or the number of square feet you need to replace in a year.

The expected labor costs
No matter the roof type, you will always have to pay the labor fees to have your roof repaired, re-coated, and so on. The amount you will have to pay would be a standard per hour rate for your location.  But, those costs may go up if your roof is slanted, three stories high, or has a unique design. Even with repairs labor costs can climb due to the hazardous or difficult situation. Those costs do not change that much if you are only repairing a small section of the roof.

Annual maintenance costs
There is a bit of good news here as you may not have to pay any money to care for your roof for the first 5 years of its life. But once the roof is over 5 years old, then annual inspections would be warranted.  The inspection costs each year can range between $120 to $350 with a national average of $215. The type of roof, its design, and difficulty in accessing will influence the inspection costs.  But these inspections should be done each year to help prevent any problems from becoming large expensive problems. The cost of repairs to your roof will depend on what is wrong with it as those problems can vary from missing shingles to holes in the roofing material to problems with the flashing.

Some professional roofing costs
When you hire a roofing professional, their costs are going to be a bit higher than what you can pay if you do it yourself. Also, the following prices may not be applicable each year. They are potential or unexpected costs that come from owning a roof.

1. Minor leak repair- $150 to $300
2. Replacing shingles- $100 to $800 depending on different factors
3. Flashing repair- $150 to $1000
4. Gutter repair- $200 to $600
5. Correcting roof pitch- $200 to $1000
6. Valley repair- $350 to $1000
7. Truss repair- $500 to $5000
8. Fascia/soffit repair- $600 to $6000

The biggest unexpected cost you would have to face would be a complete roof repair. This can happen at any time from aging out to storm damage. The ballpark cost for this unexpected cost ranges between $5,700–$12,250 depending on the roofer you hire, the type of material you use, and the difficulty and size of your roof.  Replacing your roof can be a major expense when your roof is quite large. Then 60% of that total cost is just for labor alone.

Other unexpected roofing costs
There are some roofing materials that can be laid right over the existing, damaged roof. If your roof has these types of roofing materials, then leave the old roof in place and just cover it with a new roof.  This action will save you about $1000 to $1500. However, if any part or all of the roof has to be removed first, then you are looking at paying between $1 and $5 per square foot to have it removed.  Removing the roof will depend on the severity of the damage as well as the roofing material type. Other costs involved in unexpected roofing costs will be any structural repair work that needs to be done.  Also, there will be clean-up costs and disposal of old roofing materials. Keep in mind that chimneys and skylights can boost your unexpected costs due to materials needed and difficulty in repair.  One final unexpected cost will be getting the permits needed to make the repairs. These permits can cost between $100 to $1000 and the roofing contractor usually puts those costs in your overall bill.

The good news about roofing costs
When your roof is built with PVC or TPO materials, you should not expect to have any maintenance or annual costs. The money you spend each year to maintain your roof will depend on the roofing material type.  You may not spend any money in some years while in other years you may have to replace caulking or flashing because those components get damaged very easily. Your warranty coverage may require you to make repairs ASAP to keep the warranty valid. That means costs will vary from year to year.

When you need roofing help
Whether you need an inspection or actual roofing repair, call our company,  Motor City Roofers. We are located in Detroit, Michigan and our professional roofers can handle all the repairs or roofing replacements you need to be done.  Call us today before minor problems become expensive major ones.

All roofs will leak
​At some point in time, your expensive commercial roof will spring a leak. The odds against that taking place are small as there are so many ways for your commercial roof to spring a leak.

Building owners, property managers, and even tenants are not looking forward to that time when the roof leaks on their building. The reasons they are not looking forward to their roof leaking are because, one, they are hard to find, two, expensive to repair, and three, can cause a lot of damage.  However, there are steps you can take to minimize the damage to the building once it has been reported that there is a leak in the roof. Keep reading to find out what you can do when this problem arises in your building.

There is a leak in the roof, what should be done?
When someone in the building reports a roof leak, you have several options to try to rectify the situation.

#1. Take safe steps- this is a situation where you as the building owner or property manager, should not go up on the roof and try to fix it yourself. Nor should you send untrained and inexperienced maintenance men up on the roof to do the same thing.

Being on a roof when it is leaking can be a bit risky and you need to avoid putting yourself and others at risk. Part of the risk is the challenge of finding the roof leak.  Additional equipment may be needed to make sure you found the actual source. You, the property manager, and the maintenance crew may not have access to that equipment.

#2. Protect the interior property- while it is hard to find the actual leak, seeing where the leak ends up is not so challenging. Once you spot the interior leak, then it is time to take the steps to protect carpet, rugs, furniture, insulation, lighting, electronics, and much more.

Water can cause a lot of damage to building interiors and its content so protecting as much as you can will help save you some money. Your insurance coverage may not cover everything so protect as much as you can.

Some steps to take to apply this protection are to put tarps over carpets, other flooring materials, furniture, electronics, and other expensive to replace items. Or you can use plastic sheeting. Also, do not forget to put a bucket or two under the leak to catch the falling water drops.

#3. Call in roofing experts- instead of risking life and limb, call in the experts who not only have the equipment to investigate the source of the leak but also have the knowledge of where to look and what needs to be done to fix the problem.  Professional commercial roofing companies may be a bit expensive but once they are on the job, you know that the leak will usually be found and repaired quickly.

If these professional roofers do fail to find the leak, then you can always call in licensed professional engineers who are a level or two above roofing pros equipment-wise and techniques. These engineers will work with professional roofers to fix the leak once it is found.

The roof is still leaking, why is it doing that?
There will be those times when all the steps you take will fail and your roof will continue to leak. There are some very good reasons why this is so. Here are some of those reasons:

#1. Everyone failed to find the leak

Blunt but true. As we said earlier, it is very difficult to find some roof leaks. They are well hidden and can escape an investigator’s eyes with ease. If the roof still leaks after you called in the contractor, then that leak tells you that they did not find it.  The solution to this problem is to have the roofing contractor go up on the roof again and do another search. Or call in the professional engineers when they are free to do the search.

#2. The wrong roofing material was used
This can happen quite often and does when professional roofers get lazy and only use one type of roofing material to patch the leak. The key to fixing a leaking roof is to use the appropriate patch materials compatible with the roofing materials.

When the patching materials are not compatible then you may stop the leak temporarily but eventually, a new hole will emerge and you are facing the same problem all over again.  Make sure the contractor uses the right patching materials for your roof type.

#3. Water-logged insulation was not removed
This is an essential step when the roof leak damages the insulation. The water on the insulation will compress the latter and allow for a roof depression to form. Once that does, the water can stay in one spot putting pressure on the roofing seams, etc.
All this pressure on the seams and the flashing can create a new leak. When you are having your roof leak repaired, make sure the roofing contractor removes all water-logged insulation and replaces it with new insulation.

#4. Damage was not repaired

This often happens when the roofing contractor goes with a roof coating and does not take the time to repair the structural damage underneath the coating. The underlying damage can eventually ruin the roof coating, splitting it apart and letting the water run in again.
Always double-check to make sure the contractor fixes all damages before applying the roof coating.  When you have a leaky commercial roof, do not trust it to just any roofing contractor. Call our office today to see what can be done to fix your roof as quickly as possible.
At Motor City Roofers, we understand that time is of the essence when the roof leaks. Not only do our professional roofers work quickly but they make sure all damage is repaired before calling the leak fixed. Call us today for quick service.