It’s a typical weekday afternoon, and you and your staff are busy helping customers. It’s raining outside, which is nothing new these days, but then you notice a puddle on the floor in the lobby area. After going in for a closer look, you notice it’s not from someone spilling a cup of coffee. It’s a slow drip coming from the roof. Uh oh … your commercial roof is leaking!
As business owners, we’d like to think we know exactly what to do if our Connecticut commercial roof begins to leak. But in the heat of the moment, it’s easy to panic.
Short of getting on the roof in the middle of a rainstorm, here are five steps you should take now.
- Do a quick risk assessment — It’s important to contain the leak as quickly as possible, either by grabbing a bucket or garbage can and placing it directly under where the water is coming from. This will help avoid any additional damage to furniture, flooring, etc. Next, clear the area and rope it off or put up cones and signage so that customers and office staff know not to walk there and quickly identify any additional safety hazards from the leak.
- Troubleshoot — Do your best to determine where exactly the leak is coming from. Is it truly a commercial roof leak, or is it faulty plumbing or condensation from your HVAC unit?
- Relieve the pressure — This is achieved by poking a small hole in the area where the water is coming from, especially if there is a visible water bubble present. Not relieving the pressure in a commercial roof leak could cause the water leak to spread or cause the ceiling to collapse.
- Take pictures — This might seem like the last thing you want to do, but pictures are extremely helpful for insurance documentation and proving the extent of the commercial roof leak damage and if it is eligible for a claim. Documenting everything also helps when you contact a roofing contractor.
- Call a local roofer — A professional roofing contractor can quickly get up on your roof to tarp the area until a full roof repair or replacement can be scheduled. This keeps the roof leak from becoming worse in the meantime. They can also assess the rest of the roof to see if there is any other damage.
Call MJT Roofing today!
At MJT Roofing, we hop on your commercial or residential roof and provide a thorough inspection of anything that may have been damaged. If everything looks great, we’ll continue to check in periodically. If there is significant enough damage, we will walk you through the next few steps to get started on roof repair and replacement.
Over the next several weeks and months, we’ll continue to publish helpful content to our blog page so that MJT Roofing can be a go-to resource for you!