Preventative Maintenance: Why Do It?

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1. Facility managers should prioritize preventative maintenance in order to preserve any manufacturer or company warranties covering their roofs.

2. Emergency repairs simply cost more, by some estimates as much as 50% more, than maintenance bills.

3. The longevity and durability of the roof in question is increased substantially when basic maintenance and proper care occur regularly.

As building owners gear up for another wild autumn, it is important to recognize that when rain and variable temperatures follow sustained high temperatures, small holes and cracks do often form in roofing material. Little remarked, “The ice stores from last winter combined with the sweltering heat from this summer is going to cause a real mess this fall on those roofs that haven’t been maintained. Cleaning drains and removing debris that could possibly block scuppers and overflow drains are high priority service items during a preventative maintenance call. The weight of standing water destroys the integrity of a roof’s structure. Even just an inch of water standing in a puddle 10 feet by 10 feet weighs roughly a quarter of a ton.”

Tackling these problems while they are still small in scope yields repair bills that are also minor and an assurance that, come what may, the roofing system will stand up to the hail and high winds Mother Nature hurtles at it. Alternately, waiting for the roofing material to degrade to the point water actually leaks into the building yields heftier repairs, billed at a premium since rush jobs always cost more. Owners and managers must accept maintenance costs as a healthy and necessary aspect of property caretaking.

To learn more about Diamond’s Roof Max preventative maintenance program, give us a call today to speak to one our roofing experts 785-537-8008 or 620-225-2622.

Roof Maintenance

Maintenance: The Key to Long-term Roof System Performance
Roofing professionals generally agree a good roof system requires proper design, quality materials and quality application to perform successfully. Yet once the roof system is installed, nothing is more critical to its long-term performance than establishing a program of regular inspections and proper maintenance.
The National Roofing Contractors Association (NRCA) believes the most effective way to achieve long-term roof system performance is for a building owner to have a formal, long-term relationship with an NRCA-member professional roofing contractor.

An NRCA-member professional roofing contractor:
• Understands local building practices
• Understands different roof systems and can make recommendations concerning which type of system is best for a particular building
• Has a trained and experienced work force that knows how to complete the work
• Can respond quickly if a problem arises
• Is well-established in the community, so the owner understands with whom he or she is working
• Works in, and gives back to, his or her local community
• Understands the local business environment

NRCA has expressed concerns regarding the long-term warranties offered by many roofing material manufacturers because warranties do not necessarily provide assurance of satisfactory roof system performance. Warranties often contain provisions that significantly limit the warrantor’s liability and the consumer’s remedies in the event problems develop or damage occurs to the roof system. Instead, NRCA believes the best way for a building owner to ensure satisfactory post-installation roof system performance is to have a formal, long-term maintenance agreement with an NRCA-member professional roofing contractor.

Maintenance programs typically offer the following advantages:
• A maintenance program is proactive (rather than reactive). It can help to identify problems at their early stages when they can be corrected and before they become catastrophes.
• Regular maintenance can reveal and address sources and causes of leaks before they occur. Too many owners have their roof systems examined only after a leak occurs.
• A maintenance program allows for a planned, organized approach to management of a roof asset and allows for responsible, timely preparation of long-term capital expenditures.
• Response time to address leakage problems is greatly improved.

Warranty repairs, on the other hand, can take time to be processed while the problem remains unresolved.
Building owners should take care in selecting a roofing contractor to perform maintenance work. Additional information is available from NRCA or from an NRCA-member professional roofing contractor in your area. NRCA, a nonprofit trade association, is one of the construction industry’s most respected organizations and the voice and leading authority in the roofing industry for information, education, technology and advocacy.
NRCA offers a service to help building owners locate NRCA-member professional roofing contractors in specific geographic areas. NRCA’s website allows roofing consumers to search for roofing contractors by ZIP code, type of roof system and radius; it also provides a wide range of information and services to help building owners and homeowners make informed decisions about replacing and maintaining their roof systems. This information can be obtained from NRCA’s website at http://www.nrca.net.

To learn more about our preventative maintenance program give us a call at 785-537-8008 or 620-225-2622. Let us protect your roof that protects all the rest of your assets!