What is a roof management plan and why should you have one?
The roof system is one of the most vital components to the longevity of any facility. Roof systems, edges, and flashing represent a significant portion of a building’s maintenance expense. If not properly maintained, roof leaks can cause expensive damage to exterior masonry and interior finishes. Lifetime maintenance and repairs can grow quickly without proper management. It is important for Building Owner’s to manage their physical assets wisely for maximum roof service life at the lowest cost. As a Building Owner, an “out of sight, out of mind” attitude towards any building system, particularly roof systems, will shorten their service life and cause potential problems.
Sean Mettert, the Building Envelope Department Manager at Etica Group, a women-owned architectural and engineering firm walks us through the importance of a roof management plan and how building owners can plan ahead with one.
A roof management plan is meant to provide building owners with an overall assessment, and status of their building envelope. This would include recommendation on repairs, maintenance upkeep, roof timeline, and the amount to budget year to year to manage their buildings and keep everything up to date.
How often do you update a roof management plan?
Your roof management plan should be updated every year. This allows the building owners to keep a running tab of their building’s current conditions, allowing building owners time to plan ahead.
What’s the benefit in having a roof management plan in place?
The benefit is simple. It gives building owners the benefit of keeping track of their building’s current conditions, allowing them to budget and plan accordingly. If you do not look at the condition of your building on a regular basis it can get serious, fast. When issues get taken care of ahead of time you can minimize failures and minimize costs.
Who do you recommend have a comprehensive building envelope plan?
I would recommend schools, municipalities, businesses, and anyone who has a large amount of square footage roof area. It’s always a good idea to have a plan put together to give building owners an idea on condition and have buildings managed/kept up to date.
Is weather a factor?
Yes, a lot of those issues can arise. This ranges from preinstalled doors to roofs, creating different problems in the winter versus the summer due to expansion and contraction.
Masonry gets a lot of issues with installation because it’s coarse and it takes on water. If it’s too coarse and takes on too much water, it will crack the brick when it freezes in the winter. What season we are in can have a huge difference on what type of roof you’re looking for. A lot of aspects of our job are very weather dependent.
Next steps?
If you have a building or buildings with a large square footage of roofing, we’d be happy to help you determine your needs. Reach out: Megan Scott, Director of Strategy. 317-407-8834 mscott@eticagroup.com