What a Commercial Roof Maintenance Plan Should Include
A commercial roof maintenance plan for Troy, Auburn Hills and Sterling Heights buildings: what to inspect, how often, and the records that protect a warranty.
A flat roof is really a low-slope roof — it’s built with just enough pitch to move water toward a drain, gutter or scupper. Because water moves slowly across it, a flat roof depends on continuous, watertight seams and good drainage instead of overlapping shingles. When either one fails, it leaks, and the fix is usually about the water’s path, not just the hole.
Where flat roofs show up
Plenty of homes around Rochester Hills have a flat section even if the main roof is shingled:
- Porch and patio roofs
- Additions, sunrooms and family-room bump-outs
- Attached garages and breezeways
- Dormers and bay-window roofs
- Condos, townhomes and mid-century ranches with low-slope main roofs
And most commercial buildings — offices, retail plazas, restaurants and warehouses — are flat or low-slope from edge to edge.
What goes wrong
| Problem | What it looks like | Usual fix |
|---|---|---|
| Ponding water | Puddles still there two days after rain, dirt rings, algae | Tapered insulation, crickets, or added drains |
| Open seams | Lifted edges, gaps at overlaps, leaks that move around | Clean and re-seam, or replace failed sections |
| Wall and curb flashing | Leaks along a wall or around a skylight or HVAC unit | New flashing, properly terminated |
| Blocked drains and scuppers | Overflow at the edges, ice build-up in winter | Clear, add strainers, check the drain lines |
| Blisters and splits | Bubbles or cracks in the surface | Cut and repair; widespread blistering means replacement |
| Punctures | Small tears near rooftop equipment or walk paths | Patch, and add walk pads where traffic is regular |
Repair, recover, or replace
- Repair when the problem is local: a few seams, a flashing, a drain, a puncture.
- Recover — a new membrane installed over the existing roof — can work when there’s only one roof on the building and the insulation underneath is still dry.
- Replace when the insulation is wet, there are already two roofs on the building, or the membrane has failed across the whole surface. Wet insulation loses its insulating value and rots the deck from underneath; covering it up just traps the problem.
Moisture readings and a few small test cuts tell you which of these you’re looking at.
Choosing a system
Single-ply membranes such as TPO and EPDM, and modified bitumen, are the common flat-roof systems in Michigan. Each has strengths — EPDM’s long track record in cold climates, TPO’s heat-welded seams, mod bit’s toughness under foot traffic. Our comparison of TPO, EPDM and modified bitumen explains the differences in plain language.
If the roof is still sound but aging, a roof coating can be a less expensive way to add years.
We handle flat roofs on homes and commercial buildings across our service area. Get a free estimate — tell us roughly how big the area is and what you’re seeing.
