Shopping Center Roof


Figure 1. Existing Roof Assembly and Overview

This project was a 68,000 square foot shopping center located in Longview, Texas. Their existing roof was a Built up roof (BUR) with pea gravel on top. The existing roof was failing at all mansard wall supports (see photos below). The owner originally requested a full tear off of the existing roof, and requested the new assembly to be 4.5” ISO insulation and a new 60 mil TPO membrane.

At Roof Care we always strive to provide the most economical option to our customers, so we immediately thought to count the layers of the existing roof. The International Building Code (IBC) allows for 2 layers of roofing systems on a commercial building. We cored the roof and found that the roof only had 1 layer. With this in mind, we suggested a Value Engineering option to scrape the pea gravel from the roof, install a new ½” HD ISO insulation cover board, and a new 60 mil TPO membrane. This translated to a cost savings of over 28%. For a roof as large as 68,000 square feet, this was a significant win for our customer.

One of the challenges faced during the installation was the mansard wall supports. The horizontal support ran directly over the existing roof and through the side of the pitch pan. This was why they were having so many leaks at the pitch pans. We ended up building up the area under the mansard wall supports with plywood and 2×6 nailers which allowed for the horizontal wall support to be covered up completely. We then had 1 vertical steel support every 5-6 feet along the wall which we installed a pre-fabricated penetration pocket and filler. See photos below of this detail.

Figure 2. Existing pitch pans at mansard wall supports.

Figure 3. Building up at mansard wall area.

Figure 4. Mansard wall with penetration pockets installed.

The project went very smoothly, and we spaced out the work around all inclement weather very well. We had 1 or 2 small leaks during large rains but overall we were very happy with our nightly tie ins to prevent water from entering the building. In the event of a leak, we sent one of our foremen to spot leaks and replace any wet ceiling tiles to ensure the tenants were immediately taken care of. This is one of the benefits of choosing a roofing contractor with in house employees who handle the roof install.

This project also received all new parapet wall cap, new counterflashing at all wall areas and AC units, new walkpad around all units, new pipe stands under all gas and electrical pipes, new mansard wall panels at the perimeter, and new TPO metal drip edge at the eave. We are confident that this roof will last 30+ years for this building.

This project was eligible for and received a 20 year No Dollar Limit (NDL) Manufacturer’s Warranty. In the event of a leak or failure of the roof system, the manufacturer will repair or replace all affected areas with no dollar limits for a 20 year period. This specific manufacturer allows for a 5 year extension on the warranty as well with proper annual inspections and preventative maintenance. We offer a 20 year NDL warranty on all of our projects, and in some cases you can get up to a 30 year NDL warranty.

Overall, we are very pleased with how the project turned out. If you have a project of this size or with many details, trust Roof Care to have the knowledge and skill to properly and efficiently tackle your project. If you know you will need a new roof in the near future, call us today for a FREE commercial roof inspection report. We would also be happy to provide budgetary estimates so that you can begin to budget for the future roof replacement. Call or text us today at (903)399-5403 or email us at contact@roof.care. See the job photos below.