We have told you many times how important it is to inspect and maintain your roof regularly to ensure it lives out its full service lifetime. Just like us, our roofs age and wear down, and just as we go in for check-ups, you should be checking up on your roof.
Don’t rely on your warranty – most roofing manufacturers state in their warranty that it is void if the roof isn’t properly maintained. You will not have a case when making a claim on a warranty issue if you cannot show the roof has been maintained.
Many know that a roof should be inspected at least twice a year, but don’t know what they should be looking for, so they skip out on it. Depending on the complexity of the inspection, building staff, an architect or engineer or competent roofing contractor can inspect the roof for you.
You want to have the inspections done once before the season with the most severe weather and once after. Here in Chicago, winter brings the most severe weather since the cold, storms and precipitation contributes more to roof damage than any other weather condition. You want the roof to be prepared for what is to come as well as make sure it has survived once the bad weather is done for the year.
Every so often, a formal moisture survey should be done in addition to the normal visual survey. There are three major types of moisture survey systems used, all of them measuring properties of the roof materials that change when water is present.
An infrared scan measures the amount of heat retained or lost through the insulation. Wet insulation transmits heat better than dry materials. Thus, the infrared camera will pick up the higher levels of heat radiated by wet materials (pictured above).
A nuclear isotopic meter works by sending hydrogen ions into the roof system and counting the number that come back. Since water has two hydrogen ions in every molecule, the number of ions counted increases significantly when water is present.
An electrical capacitance and resistance meter measures the ability of the roof materials to conduct electricity. This works on the principle that wet materials conduct electricity better than dry materials.
Each of these methods should be discussed with a roofing expert in order to determine if they would work for your particular roof. A formal moisture survey should be done at least every five years.
Courtesy of facilitiesnet
