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• How do the pros find leaks?

• How do they patch them?

• Once you know how then you can too!

One of the most expensive types of roof repair work to have done, is commercial roof repair on flat roofs. This is the type of roofing that’s laid down by a crew, using a roofing kettle, and rolls of asphalt impregnated fiberglass, or felt.

They do have long lifespans in general, but they also tend to die slow lingering deaths and this means that if you have one on your home or business, you can expect that at some point it will be fixing roof leaks.

Taking the Mystery Out of Commercial Roofing

For most people commercial roofing and how they are built is somewhat of a mystery. Also there are is a good handful of myths surrounding fixing roof leaks on this style of roofing, and one of the most common involves getting up on it, and liberally smearing black roofing plastic (mastic) around.

The problem with fixing roof leaks this way is that it will often stop the water, but only for a brief period. You see, this type of patch material tends to expand, and contract as it heats and cools. That in turn causes it to crack, and pull away from the surface it was applied to.

All Commercial Roof Repair Work Have Has Life-Spans

In the end, there really is no “permanent solution” because all commercial roofing and any repair work done on them have life spans, so they will eventually wear out, and need replacing. What you want to shoot for though in this type of roofing repair is “long term temporary solutions”.

So the first thing on your agenda, is to find the leaks, which means that you basically have to climb up on your roof, and “think like a drop of water”. You see, all roofs are designed to shed water and water can be a determined, and persistent adversary.

Fixing Roof Leaks Around Mechanical Equipment

There are however, a few key areas that you can hone in on to better your odds when fixing roof leaks, and one of them is around any mechanical equipment. Air conditioners and large roof vents are notorious for being the source of leaks because they’re made out of metal.

Metal expands and contracts at a different rate than asphalt, so areas where metal connects to a roof tend to develop cracks over time. Now if you should find a few small cracks around, say an air conditioning unit, that may not be the “real problem”.

The real problem may be that there is too much water passing over it, if it’s at the lower end of a downhill grade. If this is the case, there is a simple fix. That is to use L shaped edging metal to create a water division guide on the roof above the unit.

Simply cut a long enough piece, and lay it down in a ¼ inch layer of plastic patch compound. Drive a few nails in to keep in place then follow up with a second layer of patch on top. Don’t forget to make sure to drive your nails through a small dab of patch.

You’re still not done yet because you need to lay a strip of 6” fiberglass webbing on top of the second layer of patch, then work it in with yet a third layer of roof patch. Roofers call this type of commercial roof repair “three coursing”.

Don’t glob it all on too thick. Of course you’ll also want to treat the small cracks at the base of the unit with some roofing patch, and any larger cracks you’ll also want to “three course”. Don’t use a trowel! Rub it in with your hands and you’ll get much better adhesion.

Check for Water Pooling in Low Areas

Roofs are designed to shed water, so if you have any low areas where water can pool, even a tiny pin hole can pass up to 20 gallons of water per day. So low areas where the support structure is sagging are not a good thing.

The problem with areas like this though, is because even a tiny hole or crack can cause big problems, the actual source of a leak can be difficult to detect and patch. This means that your best bet is to build up the area, and cover it with “torch down roofing”.

Torch down roofing is a type of mineralized roofing material that has a rubberized asphalt layer on the bottom of it. It comes in rolls and it’s applied by heating the bottom layer with a blow-torch until it melts then laying it down in the same way that hot tar roofing is applied.

Start by filling in the low area with successive layers of thick “30 pound” felt, making sure to nail the fill in place with roofing nails. After this is done, you simply heat, and roll your torch-down in place. Check out my blog post on do-it-yourself torch-down roofing.

Check for Fish Mouths

“Fish mouths” are easy to find and once you see one, it’s not hard to imagine how that can cause a leak. Fish mouths are small areas on the edges of mineralized “90 pound” runs that have broken free, and expanded up to form small upward bows.

For this type of commercial roof repair simply cut them away with a razor knife then three course the area with patch compound, and rolled fiberglass mesh. Now if it’s a larger area with several fish mouths, you may want consider fixing roof leaks in it by top capping it with sheet of torch-down.

Check Around Your Drain Spouts

In roofers jargon, drain spouts are referred to as “scuppers”, and because so much water passes over them, even a tiny crack can lead to large amounts of water passing into the building, so check all of them.

If any of them look like they might be a “problem”, the first thing you need to do is scrape away any of the older built of roofing and gravel. Use a three course patch system to reseal them, making sure that it isn’t built up so high that it impedes water flow.

The bottom line, is that fixing roof leaks isn’t rocket science. You just have to know where to look for them, and have a familiarity with the materials and techniques that are used fix them. Take your time, and be methodical in your search, and you can do your own commercial roof repair.

Tags: commercial roof repair, commercial roofing, fixing roof leaks

This entry was posted on Saturday, November 27th, 2010 at 1:33 am and is filed under Commercial Roofing, Fixing Leaks, Flat Roof Solutions, Helpful Facts & Trivia. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.