No one wants to pay for a brand new commercial or industrial roof, yet many business and building owners are living on borrowed time.

But similar to a tooth ache that keeps bothering you that you keep putting off, the roof usually has some tell tale signs you can spot before it requires a full roof replacement. In our experience, these are the things that you should be looking for when you ask yourself “When is it time to fix my commercial roof?”

Roof Over 20 Years Old

This may be the most obvious but an aging roof is the first indicator, at minimum, get an inspection to make sure everything is working properly. Minimum of 20 years is when wear and tear starts to show, but definitely no more than 25 years as you may be working on borrowed time.

Preventive care (as with anything else in life) is almost always cheaper than reactive care. If you live in the Midwest and your roof has endured about 40+ seasons over the course of 10 years then there is likely some areas that are vulnerable to leaks.

Armour Roof Co. offers FREE inspections if you suspect that your roof is nearing its shelf life and we will make only necessary recommendations on next steps.

Damaged Flashing 

Flashing is the flat, thin metal used to seal the protrusions (vents, pipes, etc.) on your roofing system directing water away from openings. 

While this may be harder to spot on a commercial roof from the ground level, our team can quickly find vulnerabilities in your flashing when on your roof. The moment your flashing is compromised, water and debris can easily find their way into your commercial roof and deteriorate the areas around it.

Many times if we’re unable to repair your roof due to weather (ie Winter) then we will temporarily bandaid the issue until we can fully restore your roof.

Pooling on Flat Roof

As we’ve mentioned before, flats roofs are not truly flat as they need a slight slope for drainage purposes. However, it’s when we start seeing pools of water in various parts of a flat roof that raise concern.

Especially when there hasn’t been rain/snow recently.

When we climb on the roof we’re specifically looking to see how many potential pooling spots there are and if the remaining water residue is showing cracking or splintering on the surface.

Rust on a Metal Roof

This might seem obvious, but rust on a metal roof is definitely a sign that repairs need to happen fairly quickly. We once worked on a farm project that had the signs of rust forming on their metal roof.

Since it was a hog farm, there were new herds of hogs rotating every 1-2 weeks so a full roof replacement wasn’t ideal.

Armour suggested Conklin Encase Primer which has rust-inhibiting properties. Once clean, we applied this primer on the entire ceiling surface, ensuring larger rust holes were encapsulated with a spray polyurethane foam (SPF).

We were then able to coat and restore this roof in one day thus halting the spread of rust on this metal roof.