In this episode, John Maher interviews Brett Rogenski,
General Manager of Master Roofers, about commercial roofing solutions for flat
roofs. Rogenski outlines the most common issues with flat roofs, such as leaks
and drainage failures, and explains how materials like EPDM rubber and TPO
provide long-lasting performance in New England's harsh climate. He emphasizes
the importance of roof inspections, proactive maintenance, and proper water
management to extend roof lifespan. Brett also details how Master Roofers
handles large-scale projects with minimal disruption, working around sensitive
equipment, business hours, and seasonal needs—all while keeping safety,
communication, and customer service top priorities.
John Maher: Hi, I'm John Maher and I'm here today with Brett
Rogenski, general manager of Master Roofers, the most trusted roofing company
in New Hampshire for over 80 years. Our topic today is commercial roofing
services for flat roofs.
Welcome, Brett.
Brett Rogenski: Thanks so much for having me,
John.
Common Issues with Flat
Commercial Roofs
Maher: Sure. Brett, what are some of the most common issues that you
encounter with flat commercial roofs and how do you address those?
Rogenski: Sure. I would tell you... I'll break that into two
categories. The most common thing that we are addressing from a physical point
of view is leaks. So, whether we're working with a building owner or property
management company, whomever it is, commercial buildings, whether it be a
single tenant or multi-tenant, we're getting calls.
We have an entire service division dedicated to flat roof
service, and we're getting calls about leaks. "Hey, my tenant is calling
saying that it's raining in their break room." And obviously our job is to
respond to that as rapidly as possible, identify the problem and remediate it.
So, the most typical thing that we're dealing with is
leakage issues, more from a management point of view, property management point
of view. The other thing that we're typically dealing with and we like to help
with is coming up with a plan for people's roofs, whether it be maintenance or
replacement.
So, working with property owners and property managers on
doing roof surveys so they can get a good idea of how is the roof aging, what
challenges does it have now, and they can start to get an idea of what the
likely lifespan of this roof is so they can start to budget for an appropriate
range for when it's going to need replacement.
So, once we've done a good survey and given them a written
survey with photos and really identified what the challenges are, we can help
them understand is this roof 20 years away from approaching end of life, or is
it more like two years away, or are we there already? Which helps them run
their business, or manage their business because they can know, "Hey, you
know what, somewhere in the next five years or so, this roof is going to give
up the ghost, and I've got to start to budget appropriately for that."
Flat Roof Materials
Maher: What are some of the flat roof materials and systems that you
typically recommend, and what factors influence your choice in materials for a
flat roof?
Rogenski: Sure. The two most predominant ones here in New England
are EPDM rubber roofs. Those have been in use for decades here. And one of the
reasons they're popular and still remain popular here in New England is we have
all four seasons. So, roofing here, the buildings and the product both
physically expand and contract with the weather, right?
So, it must be great to do a roof in Hawaii because it's
78 and sunny every day. There's the weather forecast. Here in New England, we
have to be dealing with ice, snow, well below freezing and well below zero
temperatures, as well as temperatures that cross over a hundred for occasions
in the summer. The nice thing about EPDM roofing over the decades, it's an
older technology, is that it has a lot of flexibility. It expands and contracts
well compared to some other products that are used elsewhere in the country.
The other product that is very popular now and becoming
more popular is TPO, so thermoplastic olefin. Think of it as almost like a
vinyl or plastic-y type product. One of the reasons that that is so popular,
and we're big fans of as well in the right application is because it is when
done appropriately, essentially a seamless product.
Rubber roofs are put together in big sheets that then
overlap and are, for lack of a better description, glued together. Okay. So
imagine if I had a whole bunch of sheets of paper and an Elmer's glue stick and
I'm sticking them together like that.
A TPO roof is, yes, it is a sheet product that we roll
out, but those big seams that we're talking about, we actually take a welding
robot that makes a perfect weld down that entire seam. And when we're done,
that is now one giant sheet. And then there's other parts that we use these
hand welding tools, some of the finer details to actually do that. But when
we're done, a TPO roof is essentially one continuous piece of roofing with no
seams in it to fail. So, it's a really great product in certain applications.
Maher: So obviously if you had just a roof that was this rubber roof or
the thermoplastic olefin, like you said, and you did no drainage at all, you'd
end up with a swimming pool on your roof, which wouldn't be good.
Rogenski: Absolutely.
Drainage on Flat Roofs
Maher: How do you deal with that? How do you approach drainage and
water management on flat roofs to prevent leaks and damage and make sure that
that water doesn't just sit there and then end up inside the building?
Rogenski: Sure. A lot of times that comes from the design of the
actual original roof. The two most typical ways to deal with flat roofing, I'll
say three, depending on the construction of the building, first of all, it may
be pitched, it may have a very slight pitch to it, either multiple pitches or
one pitch where it's simply, hey, the front is higher than the back and that
water is going to want to move its way back over time and drain off the back of
the building.
One thing that we do recommend with people with that is,
and that's more... Is gutters because if you now have a whatever, 50,000 square
feet of roof pouring all that water off the back of it next to your foundation,
that's probably not a good thing. So, you're going to want a water management
plan there through gutters, et cetera, to move that water away from the
building.
The more typical situation that we see is there are drains
incorporated into the roof itself. They look like... A lot of us in our garage
maybe have a drain down in the floor. They look a lot like that. They have a
roof drain up there that then ties into the drain for the drainage for the
building. So that water that accumulates on the roof goes down the drains and
is then exited from the building through internal piping.
The next option as well would be, and this is seen a lot
of times on roofs that have what's called a parapet, a little wall around the
outside of the roof. A lot of times what those do is they are tapered to drive
water towards little holes in that parapet called a scupper. So, if you were to
look up at a roof that has a parapet around it, a lot of times you'll see maybe
a drain line coming down from like a little box in that parapet, in that wall
that's called the scupper.
And really what that roof has done well, if it's a central
drain, if it's a floor drain in the roof, if it's a roof drain, it's tapered to
drive the water towards those drains. And there's usually multiple ones on a
roof that then again, go through internal piping, exit the structure.
If it's a scupper, it's being driven towards the outside
walls and directed towards those holes that are known as scuppers, which then
typically take it to a drainage system. And again, away from the building.
There are a lot of times, especially in older buildings, sometimes it's just a
scupper and the water goes shooting out the side of the building. We don't
recommend that because all that water is now going to accumulate at the base of
your building, give you a different problem.
So, scuppers for walls with parapets, very common. Roof
drain, essential drains in the roof tied into internal plummeting to exit the
building, that's probably the most common. And then the third is simply a flat,
but sloped roof, which is draining off the roof either to the side rear or
something like that.
Preventative Maintenance on
Flat Roofs
Maher: Okay. What preventive maintenance steps can property managers
take to extend the life of their flat roof?
Rogenski: Sure. Well, it's great that we were just talking about
drainage because one of the most important things that you can do is make sure
those drains are working. So have a annual or twice a year roof inspection. And
as part of that roof inspection, not only are we up there looking for any
defects that may have happened over time, maybe some flashing pulling away, or
a seam that may start to fail, inspecting that, but also we're inspecting those
drains, making sure they're free and clear and working properly.
Those scuppers can also become clogged over time. And so,
any of those drainage things, if you allow water to accumulate, it's by nature
going to want to find its way somewhere.
Also, in the winter here in New England, if you allow
water to accumulate, now that's turning to ice, you're creating an ice rink up
there and that expansion is going to start to do very bad things to your roof
and to your structure.
So, one of the most important things you can have, have
some regularly scheduled service and roof inspection where we can come, we can
find little things, identify them to you and help you address any problems
while they're small. It'll also let us help you estimate what the longevity of
that roof is going to be. Are there five years left on this roof? Are there 25
years left on this roof? So, you can start to make plans and budget
appropriately for its replacement, or if there's a more significant maintenance
that needs to happen, plan for that and budget for that.
Large Scale Flat Roof
Projects
Maher: And then finally, how do you handle large scale flat roof
projects for a company while minimizing the disruption to business operations?
Rogenski: Yeah, great question. It all starts with communication.
Once we define the scope of the project, estimate the project, and let's say
the building owner has said, "Okay, Master Roofers, yes, we want to work
with you on this project." Now we have to set clear expectations with them
regarding what we need.
We also need to know from them what's important to them.
So that's... For what we need, we need to let them know, for instance, about
noise, potential debris, anything like that during, if there's a roof stripping
process. So, if we have to take off old roofing, what's that going to look
like? How's that going to affect the building and the structure?
The fact that we're going to have to cordon off certain
areas to be able to accommodate dumpsters and vehicles and equipment. The fact
that we're going to have to arrange times where maybe a chunk of their parking
lot's unavailable. Why? Because we have to bring in a crane to crane materials
up to the roof. Sometimes we even need to coordinate with other trades to work
on things that are on the roof, mechanical system, so your HVAC contractor, et
cetera.
So, it's coordination of effort, so setting expectations
about what we're going to be doing and what we need, establishing any
coordination between other trades and other vendors. And then most importantly,
the customer telling us what they need besides a roof. So, the fact that we
can't be disruptive in a certain way.
So, sometimes if we're adding ISO insulation, there's a
screwing process that we have to do to adhere that down through decking. For
instance, we had one customer that needed to know what sections of the roof we
would be working on when, because they had sensitive equipment inside, that
simply the disruption of the dust and any debris from screwing through the
decking, because it was highly calibrated equipment, could cause a huge amount
of spoilage for them.
So, what we did was we worked with them and we came up
with a plan and we divided the roof into about 10 sections. And we had dates on
that that we said, "Hey, we're going to be working in this section on this
date, this section on this date, this section..." They could... A, they
knew that they had to shut down their production line in that area ahead of
time so they could do their business planning. And then the second thing that
they chose to do is they covered those areas in tarps as well.
Scheduling Projects Based on
Season
Maher: And do you ever schedule the projects to happen during a certain
season, like say the spring or the fall in order to minimize disruption to...
If you did have to shut down something like a air conditioning system on a
roof, you maybe don't want to do that in the middle of the summer and bake
everybody out of their office. Or likewise in the winter, if you had to do
something with the HVAC system and shut down the heating system for a while in
order to finish the roof. Are you trying to schedule it in the off seasons?
Rogenski: Yeah, we work with all... It's very common for us to work
with customers regarding their specific needs or regarding those larger things
such as air conditioning, heating systems and that sort of thing. So yeah, we
absolutely do. We're very used to... We try and be a great customer service
experience. So guess what? It's your building. You tell us when we're able to
work largely and we work together on that.
So yeah, certainly if we had to, for instance, have a
couple of days where like the HVAC system was down in a manufacturing plant,
we're either going to work with them around what they choose as the least
inconvenient time, or that might be, if it's a simple, we need to do a certain
area on one day and that facility is closed on Saturdays, we'll work with them
and we'll simply do that on a Saturday when they don't have people in there
that are doing it.
We also are very accustomed to working around, for
instance, like events. So, certain businesses have certain hours where they
can't have disruption, and we'll absolutely work with them around that. For
instance, we recently did some roofing at the SNHU Arena here in Manchester,
and there were certain business hours we had to work with, okay.
But they also have events there, right? And they have
preparation for events, there are lots of events. So, there were times that we
had to plan our work that nope, we can't have any access to the site next
Thursday through Sunday. Why? Because they're getting ready for a concert and
they're doing setup on Thursday and Friday and concert Friday night, Saturday
night, tear down Sunday, no, we can't be doing that. And other things like
that.
So again, communication is key and our project managers
are in constant contact with those end users and decision makers to make sure
that we're being as minimally disruptive as possible. Hopefully not disruptive
at all.
Maher: All right, well that's really great information, Brett. Thanks
again for speaking with me today.
Rogenski: My pleasure. Thank you for having me, John.
Maher: And for more information about Master Roofers, you can visit the
website at masterroofers.com or call (603) 623-4973.