Flat roofs are everywhere. Most commercial, institutional, and industrial roofs are flat roofs. Thousands of millions of square feet of flat roof are installed each year. Flat roofs are expensive to install at an average cost of €4-€6 per square foot and replacement roofs can cost as much as €10-€12 per square foot when disposal costs of the old roof are included.
waterprof.ie flat roof membrane is a spray on elastomer and when the surface of the flat roof surface is properly prepared, this polyurea roofing membrane can last 25-75 years.
waterprof.ie specialists have noted that roofs are often ignored as part of the building maintenance plan. The roof only gets attention when a leakf makes it appearance, and at this stage the water ingress will have happened. Through their years in business, waterprof.ie specialists have found that forty-five percent (45%) of all new roofs finished in the conventional manner develop serious problems within one year of installation.
They estimate tthe sources of the problems to:
- 50% – Poor workmanship
- 20% – Poor design
- 15% – Poor maintenance
- 10% – Material failures
Flat roofs are highly susceptible to leaks and water damage. Once a leak begins, it will saturate the insulation beneath it, diminishing the R-value of the ceiling’s insulation and adding unneeded heating and cooling costs to a building.
These types of roof can be repaired but in many cases, these roof need to be properly vented to allow any pockets of moisture to escape and not to cause long-term rot or dry rot.
Detecting the leak can be done at nighttime, typically a couple hours after the sun goes down. waterprof.ie specialists may use and Infra Red heat detection cameras.
The source of the problem is nature itself: throughout the day the sun’s heat will warm the surface of the roof. The areas in the flat roof which contain water beneath the surface will warm up much slower than the rest of the roof area.The reason for this is because water has a higher thermal capacity than the surrounding insulation materials, and absorbs heat at a much slower rate.
waterprof.ie use their many years of experience to address this problem and recommend that these types of roofs are properly vented to allow any moisture to escape and allow the water damaged roofs to dry out naturally over time.
At nighttime, after the sun goes down and the roof starts to cool off, the areas where moisture is trapped beneath will still be releasing the heat that was stored all day from the sun and can then be easily visible as “hot spots” when compared to the rest of the dry roof areas.
Once the roof leaks have been detected, the area is marked off with spray the \waterprof.ie polyurea so that a roofing contractor can easily find and repair ONLY the areas that are damaged. This can ultimately save the building owner THOUSANDS of Euros in unneeded roof replacement costs!
The picture to the left shows an example of what the IR camera sees at nighttime. The difference between hot and cold, or wet and dry in this case, is very clear. There is no disputing this visual evidence.
The losses from premature roof failure run into the billions of euros every year. These euros are lost, and are not available to support or extend business operations. The primary costs associated with roof failures include the following:
- Excessive energy consumption due to reduced insulating value of wet insulation
- Losses due to water leakage into the building, resulting in problems ranging from minor nuisances to catastrophic and life-threatening situations. Leaking roofs can cause total building outages when water invades electrical switch gear and critical production equipment.
- Damage to the roof membrane and the structural roof components caused by trapped moisture in the roof assembly. There are numerous accounts of people being seriously injured or killed when they fall through a flat roof because the roof lost structural integrity due to water damage.
- Loss of salvage value of the roof insulation at the time of membrane replacement because it has become wet. The cost of disposing and replacing insulation can cost 3Euros to 5 Euros per square foot.
The average life of a new roof in the US is seven years. Because some roofs last over 30 years, it is clear that a lot of money is being spent that could be put to better use. All that’s needed is regular maintanence! Contact us to learn more about regular IR inspections as part of your routine maintanence program and how much you could potentially save.
The waterprof.ie roof coating polyurea membrane is a hot spray applied two component polyuretance which is fast drying, quick curing, seamless, jointless membrane. The advantages of this system is the reduction of risks of water ingress through the membrane which regularly occurs with the more traditional roofing systems like torch on or bitchimium based products. The waterprof.ie polyurea system is a state of the art roof coating/ membrane. It bonds directly to concrete, steel, foam, timber and bitchimium based older type roofs.
Please contact us to discuss possible roof solutions with the added bonus that roofs can repaired, replaced or newly erected without the disruption of more traditional type roof repair or installation. If a roof needs to be replaced, waterprof.ie will have a solution for you that will have little or no impact on your business productivity.