Commercial Roofing
A commercial roof is the only part of a building that other trades treat as a floor. Air conditioning contractors service units on it. Electricians run conduit across it. Satellite and telecoms crews mount hardware to it, and window cleaners drag equipment over it. None of those people are roofers, and very few of them are thinking about a membrane while they work. That is why a large share of leaks on commercial buildings are not weather damage at all — they are traffic damage, concentrated in the paths between the roof hatch and whatever needs servicing.
APC Roofing works on commercial roofs. This page is not a list of what we have done; it is a description of what the work involves, so that a bid arriving on your desk can be read rather than merely compared on price.
The roof as a work surface
Foot traffic is a design input, not an accident. Walkway pads laid from the access point to each serviced unit cost very little and prevent the punctures that produce the most annoying leaks — small, invisible, and directly over occupied space. A cover board between the insulation and the membrane makes the assembly meaningfully harder to damage underfoot, and fleece-backed membrane adds puncture resistance where traffic is heavy. If your building has rooftop units that get quarterly service, ask what the proposal does about the route to them.
Curbs and penetrations are where it leaks
Open field membrane rarely fails on its own. What fails is everything sticking through it: pipe boots, conduit supports, gas lines resting on blocks, drains whose clamping rings have loosened, and above all the curbs under mechanical units, where sheet metal, sealant and membrane all have to agree with each other while the unit above vibrates. Equipment added after the roof went on is a particular risk, because it is often mounted by whoever supplied it. Any new penetration deserves the roofing contractor's attention before it is made, not after it leaks.
Recover or tear off
Codes generally allow one roof recover over an existing assembly, and prohibit it where two or more coverings already exist, where the existing roof is water-soaked or deteriorated, or where the deck cannot carry the added weight. That rule decides the budget more often than the membrane choice does. A moisture survey and core cuts settle it: they show what the roof is actually built of — frequently not what the drawings claim — and whether the insulation is holding water. Saturated insulation carries weight, destroys the thermal value the building is paying for, and corrodes a steel deck from above where nobody looks. Covering it over is the most expensive economy available.
Insulation and the code minimum
A replacement or recover normally has to meet a minimum thermal value for the climate zone, and that requirement often sets the assembly thickness more than anything the owner asked for. Two layers with staggered joints beat one thick layer, because a single layer leaves a straight thermal path at every seam. This is also the moment when drainage can be corrected, since tapered insulation is how fall gets built into a deck that never had enough — the alternative is living with standing water for the life of the roof.
Hail hides in the insulation
Membranes bruise rather than shatter, and hail damage on a commercial roof frequently sits below a surface that still looks sound, which is why core cuts belong in any serious post-storm assessment. Severe-hail ratings exist for commercial assemblies and are worth specifying where large stones are a seasonal certainty rather than a rare event. The Storm Prediction Center keeps the running record of where they actually fall; Colorado's Front Range is the most active large-hail region on the continent, and the metro hailstorm of May 2017 remains the costliest insured catastrophe in that state's history.
Working around an operating business
The logistics are half the project. Where does the crane or hoist stand, and on which day. Which parking is lost and for how long. How is the tear-off odor or noise going to reach tenants, and can the work be phased section by section so no area is open overnight. Who has keys to the roof hatch. What happens if rain arrives mid-phase — the answer should be a stated tie-off and dry-in procedure, not improvisation. A contractor who has thought about this will raise it before you do.
What a bid has to answer
Membrane type and thickness in mils. Attachment method and the fastening pattern, including the denser pattern required at corners and perimeters. Insulation type and total thermal value. What happens to the existing assembly, backed by core cut evidence. How drainage is being corrected rather than merely retained. Edge metal and termination details. And exactly what the manufacturer warranty covers, what voids it, and who inspects it. Two proposals answering all of that can be compared honestly; one answering none of it is a number rather than a proposal. For independent help evaluating a building enclosure project, the International Institute of Building Enclosure Consultants is a reasonable starting point.
