A BUILDINGS FORGOTTEN ASSET

Posted by on Mar 28, 2014 in Blog

A Buildings Forgotten Asset is the one Rarely Noticed

It is usually never inspected and forgotten about until it begins to fail.  Typically, there is never any maintenance or care of this building asset until it is in the mature stage of its life cycle.  Once this asset is at the mature stage maintenance becomes a reactive approach.  What is the asset?  It is the roof that works every day for years and decades to keep the weather out of the building.  Keeping the rain, sun, and occasionally the snow at bay, year after year and almost always forgotten about until the drip, drip, drip of water finally makes its way into the building and then; this asset gets the attention it deserves.

Recent rains and poor quality of work by a local Roofing Contractor has reminded me to share knowledge about this subject with others.  But first a couple of sentences about my qualification on the subject.

I was in the Roofing and Waterproofing Industry for roughly 25 years.  In the 90’s I co-founded a roofing and waterproofing business that focused on mega-resort construction in Vegas.  Some of the notable projects are the New York-New York, Bellagio, Venetian, and Mandalay Bay among others.  Since I was involved in many hundreds of millions of dollars in design, installation, repair and replacement of roofing assets it can be said that I do have some level of credibility in the field.  But I digress from the roofing asset issue.

 Here are the keys to maximizing the longevity and reducing the life cycle cost of the most forgotten building asset – The Roof:

  • Perform routine maintenance
    • Keep the drains clean
    • Keep water from A/C condensate lines and swamp coolers from draining on the roof
    • Clean the grease traps for those with restaurants
    • Control access to the roof and make sure any repairman on the roof do not damage it.
  • Check out a routine maintenance plan offered by a local respected Roofing Contractor and do not wait any longer than the fifth year of a roofs life cycle.  They will make recommendations to keep the little things from getting worse and shortening the life of the existing roof.  Replacement costs are extraordinarily expensive so lengthening the life span of the existing roof system is almost always a great return on investment.

 Extend the Life Span

If the 8 year life span of a roof can be extended to 12 years with minimal cost and expense the math almost always works in your favor.  Extending the life expectancy, with maintenance, by 50% is a great return on investment.  Maximize the life of the existing roof, reduce the cost of the asset over its life span, and please don’t forget about the roof.

Be kind to your roofing asset and it will return the favor.

Watch AJB YouTube Channel and see what to look for on a roof for potential leaks: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=avCgihD4YGg

    1 Comment

  1. The videos are Great for learning tools! Look forward to more video tutorials and hope to see some product reviews!

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