PHP Roofing Blog

When someone falls, someone gets hurt—and the risk is doubled if you’re on top of a roof. Even if you fall on a roof (as opposed to falling from the roof to ground level or a lower-level roof structure), you can still be in considerable danger. That’s because a roof may contain hazards that you wouldn’t want to impact with your body, such as pipe supports, live electrical equipment, or rusted metal. There’s even a danger of falling through a roof if you happen to be standing near a weakened area or a skylight. In other words, rooftop fall protection is more important than most may think.

With so many hazards in play, it’s no wonder that roofing accidents make up over one-third of all fatalities in the construction industry. Since you believe in worker safety—plus avoiding fines and bad publicity—it’s likely that you are interested in the guidelines and techniques that make up rooftop fall protection and prevention. Here are the top four ways to get started:

Back in 2017, OSHA released new guidelines designed to improve safety for 112 million American workers—with a special emphasis for those who work on rooftops. Where OSHA did not previously specify safety mechanisms for workers near unprotected rooftop edges, the organization now mandates rooftop guardrail systems for those within six feet of a drop. These rules were mandated to come into effect in January 2018. If you haven’t already begun complying, now is the time.

Commercial roofs have varying lifespans. TPO roofs have the shortest life, with a maximum of 20–30 years. Meanwhile, asphalt roofs can last up to 40 years, and metal roofs can last up to 45. These are simply the documented life spans as they exist on paper, however. Under real-world conditions, most commercial roofs never last as long as their projected life.

Replacing a roof is expensive in terms of materials, cost of labor, and lost productivity. There’s also a loss of investment to think about. If you invest in a commercial roof with a lifespan of 40 years and it only lasts for three decades, then your roof is suddenly amortized over a much shorter amount of time. In other words, if you can extend the lifespan of your commercial roof, then your initial investment becomes much more bearable over time.

Lastly, there’s not just the roof itself to consider. The pipe supports on your roof hold gas pipes, refrigerants, electrical and internet cables, HVAC, and more. If and when these supports break down, the equipment upon them could break, exposing your roof to a variety of hazards that range from chemical spills to fires—all of which would cause the roof to fail to meet its expected lifespan without the help of an experienced commercial roofing company.

Your roof is a large flat surface that’s exposed directly to sunlight and the elements. In other words, there’s a high possibility for damage when you’ve installed support systems with a high potential to penetrate your roof. The common roof problems presented below depict massive costs when it comes to facility management. Here’s how to keep them in check with noninvasive pipe support solutions and products engineered by PHP Systems/Design.

A high-performance roof isn’t something that happens on its own. We’ve written about this before – if you simply ask an architect to “create a roof,” you’re likely to receive a blueprint that does not correctly communicate its design intent to your builders. You need to select the right designer, hire a roofing consultant, and make sure that they collaborate productively with the contractors.  In other words, even creating a roof that lasts for as long as intended requires careful and proactive management.

If you’re constructing a new roof, you may ask yourself if premium insulation is worth the cost. After all, it’s a pricey material, it’s expensive to install, and building costs are high. If you look past the up-front cost, however, you’ll see that paying more attention to your insulation (and perhaps paying a little bit more money) is an investment that will result in improvements that pay for themselves. Here are six reasons why you should care about commercial roofing insulation:

Very few roofs end up lasting for their projected lifespan. Any issue that arises during the installation of a roof will inevitably become magnified over time as sunlight, rain, snow, hail, and debris do their work. Ironically, even the process of inspecting a roof can in some ways bring about its early demise. Here are just a few of the biggest challenges that a commercial roof may face over its lifespan.

A commercial building with a leaky roof is not great for business, no matter what your company does. Office workers don’t like working in leaky buildings, and retail shoppers don’t want to shop in water-logged stores and supermarkets. Leaks can lead to costly slip-and-fall injuries, ruin stored merchandise, and damage flooring – to say nothing of the cost of repairing the roof itself. What can you do about leaks and, more importantly, prevent them from happening in the first place?

It is commonly assumed that an architect knows what they’re doing. After all, the architect has gone to school, joined a practice, and designed several buildings. Why should your building be any different?

Out of every surface on your building, your roof is the one that spends the most time exposed to rain and wind-driven moisture. There is absolutely no way to prevent water infiltration entirely, but there are ways to prevent most of it – and unless you try, your roof and its contents will quickly be eaten by rot and hazardous mold.