Roof Maintenance 101 for Your Commercial Building - PODCAST TRANSCRIPT

Editor's note: The following is the transcript of a live interview with Lauren Morley of R3NG Roofing and Gutters. You can read the interview below or listen to the podcast.

Intro: Hello, welcome to an Ask a Roofer minisode, where we give you all of the information you need to know to maintain your roof, all the good stuff in short little episodes. Today I'm chatting with Lauren Morley from R3NG, and a dear friend. Hi, Lauren, how are you?

Lauren Morley: Hi, Megan. I'm good. How are you?

Megan Ellsworth: I'm so good, so excited to have you on the mini podcast. So I'll just have you introduce yourself really quick and then we'll dive into the question.

Lauren Morley: Yeah, so I'm Lauren Morley. I am the majority owner of R3NG, based out of Denver, Colorado. We are a commercial roofing contractor. And super excited to be here today, because we have an in-house service division and services is a big hot topic right now in roofing.

Megan Ellsworth: Yeah, absolutely. Okay, so for this minisode, we're tackling roof maintenance. What are the most important roof maintenance tasks for a commercial roof?

Lauren Morley: Yeah, it's a really good question. It's kind of funny, because honestly, probably the first one is one that's the most obvious and I think it's the most overlooked, which is debris on the roof. General debris that can block drains, that can block scuppers. On a low slope roof, obviously, drainage is essential. And just the smallest amount of debris or leaves inside of drains can really clog up the entire roof system. So number one thing, clean out the debris off the roof, clean out the drains.

Lauren Morley: Flashings is probably the next part of it. Those areas, like skylights or other penetrations, where you're going to have the most area where water intrusion can happen in the roof. So double check those flashings, areas where you might need to put new sealant or silicone, is probably that big number two.

Lauren Morley: And then from there, just penetrations and all of your laps, making sure that everything is sealed up tight for the upcoming year.

Megan Ellsworth: Yeah. Now, this might be a silly question, but this is the place for silly questions. Do commercial roofs have gutters? And do they need to be cleaned?

Lauren Morley: It depends. Yet, yeah, there's definitely commercial roofs that have gutters, for sure. The general rule is, if you have a gutter, you have to clean the gutter.

Megan Ellsworth: Right.

Lauren Morley: It doesn't matter if you're residential, it doesn't matter if you're commercial, if a gutter exists on a building, it needs to be cleaned on a regular basis.

Megan Ellsworth: Yes.

Lauren Morley: So that's the easiest answer to that.

Megan Ellsworth: Amazing. I recently cleaned my gutters on my garage and there was like four inches of just mud in the gutter. So now they're clean. Yay.

Lauren Morley: I can tell you, because we do both multi-family and low-sub commercial and the amount of leaks that we'll get, where we'll just come back and be like, "Yeah, your gutters were really full." And they're like, "Well, gutters can't cause a roof leak." You're like, "Well, if the water is nowhere to go..."

Lauren Morley: I always say, "If the water has nowhere to go, it's going to find its way into your building." And the gutters are meant to get the water away from your building. So yeah, gutter cleaning and tree trimming, is one that people don't think about a lot too. And pay attention to how many trees are around your building. We have some commercial buildings that are surrounded by big trees, and we annually maintain those twice a year, typically, because you're going to get a lot more debris, a lot more dirt, a lot more risk of branches and things falling off.

Lauren Morley: Another big suggestion is, if you do any sort of construction project on your roof, if you're doing big HVAC maintenance, if you have to add refrigerant systems, get your roof looked at and maintained right afterwards. It's not, [inaudible 00:03:42] folks don't do it on purpose, but pinholes happen. Lots of people walk on the roof, tools get dropped. So if any sort of construction happens on the roof for maintenance to an HVAC system, get your roof looked at right after.

Megan Ellsworth: Totally. Okay, last question. How regular should inspections be on a commercial roof, if they own a roof, if they own a building, a commercial building?

Lauren Morley: Yeah. Well, I guess we kind of just touched on that a little bit. The real answer is, it depends. At a minimum, once a year. Never should you have it looked at less than once a year. Depends on the climate that you're in too. But things like silicone and sealant, especially depending on weather, those things are going to crack more often than not.

Lauren Morley: Debris and leaves are going to build up no matter what over the course of a year. The more penetrations you have, the more things like skylights and HVAC units you have and the more trees around your building you have, means the more you need to get it maintained.

Lauren Morley: So if you have a big flat roof with one HVAC unit and no trees, once a year is fine. If you have a big cold storage facility that's surrounded by trees, that has 15 refrigerant units and 95 other penetrations, I guess cold storage isn't a good example, but then you want that to be looked at probably more often.

Megan Ellsworth: Totally. Awesome. Well, Lauren, thank you so much for being on the Ask a Roofer minisode and answering all of my questions and helping all these building owners out there.

Lauren Morley: Always happy to do it. I always say, roofs are the things that if you don't see it, you don't think about it. But annually maintaining your roof is super important.

Megan Ellsworth: So important. For everyone out there, you can find more information about R3NG. If you're in the Denver area, and have a commercial building and need a new roof, go check them out. You can find all their information on Ask a Roofer and rooferscoffeeshop.com.

Megan Ellsworth: In the meantime, go check out the rest of our full-length episodes wherever you stream podcasts, on Ask a Roofer. And we'll see you next time on the next minisode.

Megan Ellsworth: Ask A Roofer minisodes are brought to you by askaroofer.com and rooferscoffeeshop.com. In each bite-sized episode, we explore everything basic roof maintenance tips, to the latest in roofing technology and sustainability. Whether you're a homeowner, a building owner or just curious about the craft, these minisodes are packed with valuable insights to help you navigate your roofing projects and home or building ownership with confidence.

Outro: So stay tuned, solve your roofing puzzles and let's stay ahead of the curve with Ask a Roofer minisodes. Go to askaroofer.com to learn more today.