Commercial Roofing
A stained ceiling panel above a pallet rack is usually the last place water shows up, not the first, and the pallets below it are the reason a warehouse roof cannot wait for a convenient month. Edinburg, TX counts warehousing and logistics among its employers, and the city's north edge follows the I-69C and US 281 corridor, so a warehouse with dock doors and rooftop equipment is a building we expect to inspect. The first check on any of them is the same: find where the water enters, follow it across the deck and see how far the wet material has spread.
We start at the leak and work backward, because the visible mark inside is rarely over the opening outside. Photographs keyed to a roof drawing mark what is sound and what has moved, and point to the one spot where a small test can answer a doubt before anyone commits to a repair.
The failures cluster at the places where the membrane is cut, folded or fastened. Rooftop unit curbs, exhaust fans, skylight frames, roof hatches and plumbing vents each add a vertical edge to a flat roof, and each edge depends on a flashing and a sealant that have been in the sun for years. Seams between membrane sheets are the second cluster, especially where a seam crosses a low spot and holds water.
At the perimeter, edge metal and coping take wind load, and a loose piece is a path for wind-driven rain. Dock canopies and lower roofs beside taller walls collect runoff from above, which adds volume to a drain that was sized for the area below. We look at those transitions first on a warehouse, since a single failed flashing at a roof-to-wall joint can feed water along the deck for dozens of feet. A skylight and penetration flashing repair at a known leak spot is often the quickest way to stop the inflow.
On a metal deck, water follows the flutes and the joints between sheets, then drips at a fastener or a lap far from the opening. On a concrete deck, it spreads along the surface and finds cracks. Wet insulation holds water like a sponge and releases it slowly, so a leak can continue for days after the rain stops.
The pattern inside the building tells us where to begin. A line of stains along a bay suggests a seam or a deck joint. A single stain below a unit points to the curb. A wet spot at a column or wall suggests a roof-to-wall transition. We map the stains, then walk the roof along that line and probe every detail within a wide radius of the likely entry. If the readings show moisture beyond the first suspect, we widen the search before any repair is priced. An infrared moisture survey is the fastest way to see the extent of wet insulation on a large roof.
Warehouse roofs in the Rio Grande Valley range from single-ply membranes such as TPO to built-up and modified bitumen systems, and from older metal panels to coated surfaces. The membrane controls how repairs are made. A welded seam is repaired by welding. A taped splice is repaired with tape or adhesive. A metal panel is re-fastened or replaced. We confirm the system from cores and records rather than looks, because a newer layer can hide an older roof underneath.
The assembly beneath the membrane matters as much. Insulation type and thickness, the cover board and the deck all affect how a roof dries and how it holds fasteners. A fully adhered system on a smooth deck behaves differently from a mechanically attached one on a corrugated deck. The record lists each layer we can verify and marks the layers we are assuming, so the scope does not rest on a guess.
Forecasters treat May through October as the Valley's heat-safety season, a long stretch of sun and surface heat for any roof. Sustained heat ages membranes, hardens sealants and drives the daily expansion and contraction that works on seams, flashings and fasteners. A dark membrane in full sun runs well above the air temperature, and the movement is largest at the places that are fixed to something else.
That is why we look for crazing, shrinkage and hardened sealant on a warehouse that has been through many summers. Pulled flashings at walls, open lap ends and cracked pipe boots are the usual signs. A heat-aged roof can hold water out for years and still fail at a detail when a storm arrives, so the heat record and the storm record are read together. A heat and UV damage repair record marks the areas that have aged most, which sets the order of repairs.
The boundary follows the moisture. If the readings are dry beyond one detail, the repair stays tight around that detail. If insulation is wet across a bay, the boundary expands to the edge of the wet area, and the question becomes whether a section repair, a phased restoration or a full replacement makes sense.
Hanna's July 2020 wind and flooding reached Edinburg, and Dolly's earlier gusts of 50 to 70 mph crossed the county with minor damage. After tropical wind events we inspect roof edges, flashings and rooftop equipment, since the damage is often a lifted edge or a loosened unit curb and not a visible hole. Where a roof is a candidate, a recover can add a new membrane over a dry existing roof. Where moisture is widespread, a replacement comes next, with the cost drivers laid out beside the evidence.
A working warehouse has forklifts, trucks, dock schedules and stock that cannot be moved easily. We plan the work by bay, ask the facility director which areas must stay clear and set up protection under the section being opened. Material staging goes where it will not block a dock door, and lifts are placed away from truck lanes.
Each section is sized to be dried in before the crew leaves, and temporary seals and tarps are kept on the roof for sudden rain. In a region with a tropical storm season from June through October, the forecast sets the schedule more than the calendar does. When a roof has to stay in service during a long job, phased work lets the operation continue below. We record the opening and closing time of each section so the facility director can see exactly what was exposed and when. Properties in Pharr, McAllen and along the US 281 and I-69C corridor share the same approach, and a building that works as a distribution center or holds product in cold storage adds dock traffic or temperature limits to the plan.
Water runs along the deck and through the insulation before it drips. The stain may be several bays from the opening, so we trace the path from the stain back across the roof.
Usually the stock stays. We set protection below the work area, repair from above and keep each opening dried in the same day.
An infrared scan marks suspect areas and moisture readings or a small core confirm them. The extent of the wet area sets the repair boundary.
Roof edges, flashings and rooftop equipment first. Wind lifts edges and loosens curbs, and rain gets in at those spots well before a hole shows in the field.
The city issues permits against its adopted 2018 building and energy codes, so insulation thickness and edge details are settled in the scope before the first quote is final.