When your flat roof has ponding water, this puts your building at risk of ending up with leaks and structural damage. Knowing more about this commercial flat roof problem can help you understand how important it is to have it fixed as soon as possible. Keep the following information about flat roof ponding in mind this winter.
Flat Roof Ponding Explained
Flat roof ponding occurs when large puddles of water form on your roof and stay there. Rather than draining away or evaporating within 48 hours, these puddles become areas of standing water. Having ponding on your roof can increase the risk of developing leaks, which can lead to costly water damage. Ponding water can also result in serious structural damage if it weakens your roof. If this damage is severe enough, your roof could end up collapsing.
Ponding can lead to other problems as well when it isn’t fixed. Having standing water on your commercial roof can shorten its lifespan, which means you might need to replace it much sooner than expected. Puddles of water can also attract pests, such as insects, and lead to mold growth. Taking care of ponding on your roof promptly helps reduce these risks and protects against additional damage.
Causes of Flat Roof Ponding
Ponding on your commercial roof can happen for different reasons. You might have ponding if you have clogged drains. When water isn’t able to drain from your roof, it collects on it instead and might not evaporate quickly enough.
When ponding causes mold or vegetation to grow on your roof, this can make the problem worse. These growths can block drains and make it harder for water to drain away or evaporate, which could cause ponding to occur in multiple areas of your roof.
Low spots on your roof can make it easy for water to form puddles that don’t drain or evaporate. Your roof can develop low spots in areas where it has grown weaker due to water damage or other causes.
Having the wrong roof slope or pitch can allow ponding to occur. Your flat roof should have enough of a slope to let water drain away. Otherwise, water can collect on your roof and form puddles.
Is Fixing a Flat Roof Possible?
Can a flat roof really be fixed? Ponding might seem like a problem you can’t avoid when your building has a flat roof. However, there are ways to fix this problem and make sure it doesn’t keep happening. Fixing flat roof ponding involves finding out what is causing it to occur. Once you know why your roof keeps having areas of standing water, you can take steps to correct this problem.
Repairing Flat Roof Ponding
When flat roof ponding is due to clogged drains, clearing these out can fix this problem. Keeping drains free of debris allows water to get to them more easily. If your roof doesn’t have enough drains to handle the amount of rain and snow you get, you can have drains added.
Low spots on roofs can be filled to make them more even with the rest of your roof. Roof plaster is the material typically used to fix low spots. If your roof does not have enough of a slope, you can have this corrected. Professional roofers can redo your roof slope or pitch as needed.
Keep in mind that you can take steps to prevent ponding from occurring on your flat roof. This can reduce your risk of needing to have repairs done. Having maintenance done on your commercial roof can stop water from ponding.
Routine roof maintenance often includes having debris cleared from your gutters, drains and downspouts. This allows rain or melted snow to flow off of your roof instead of staying on it. During maintenance visits, roofers can also check for problems that could lead to ponding, such as low spots on your roof. Your roofers can take care of these issues in order to prevent ponding from happening.
Hire Professional Roofers to Fix Ponding
When your flat roof has ponding, you should hire a professional roofer to make repairs. Professional roofers can identify the cause of roof ponding and recommend ways to fix these problems. Your roofers can then handle the repairs that are needed to stop roof ponding from occurring again.
Roofers have the experience and the right kinds of equipment and tools to handle flat roof repairs. You can also have your roofers perform routine maintenance to prevent ponding from occurring again.
If your building has flat roof ponding, please contact Pinnacle Roofing in the Capital Region of New York and Southern Vermont. Our roofing experts can fix this problem and provide routine maintenance to reduce the risk of it happening again.