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Business as Usual: How to Perform Roofing Repair without Disrupting Work

Most businesses don’t have the time or money to completely stop operations when work must be done on their building. Whether you’re a manufacturing facility, a school or hospital, a hotel, or a food processing plant, you can’t shut down because your roof needs repair or replacement. Yet you can’t ignore the roofing work that’s necessary.

These challenges can seem like a catch 22—but there are solutions. First, let’s look at the most common challenges:

• Vibrations: It’s not uncommon to find below-deck fireproofing, located underneath the structural roof deck. Vibrations from roofing equipment can cause this material to dislodge.
• Tear-off debris: With tectum or gypsum deck, or concrete panels, it’s possible for debris to fall between the joints when work is being done on the roof.
• Openings: When roof openings, i.e. skylights, are being removed or replaced, debris, materials, and/or hand tools can fall through these openings, causing potential safety hazards.
• Joints and rust on metal decks: Debris and dust call fall through the joints of metal decks, and if the deck is rusted, there’s further potential for openings, through which debris can fall.

Obviously, these situations can disrupt work within the building while posing serious safety issues—which is never acceptable. Noise from the work causes yet even more interruptions and annoyances. Furthermore, facilities such as hospitals cannot risk patient care and surgeries being disrupted, while food processing plants must remain free of any and all dust and debris.

So what are you supposed to do?

There are several ways to address these challenges and keep work flowing while maintaining safety:

• Plastic protection: Roofing workers will cover sensitive items below with plastic.
• Installing overhead protection: Protection placed above the facilities and below the roof deck will capture miscellaneous debris that might come through.
• Coordinate schedules: Roofing work can be scheduled during off hours and at times when no one is working or present when and where the roofing work is being performed. Contractors will work around events at hotels, school and manufacturing hours, hospital schedules, etc.

While every project is different in terms of work, schedules, and sensitivity, a quality roofing contractor—in addition to performing superior work on your roof—will know what solutions are best for these challenges, and will keep your work uninterrupted and your facilities safe.