A leaking roof on a business property costs more than the repair. Stock gets damaged, staff work around buckets, and tenants start asking questions. Commercial roofs also tend to be bigger, flatter and harder to reach than house roofs, so problems can go unnoticed until water finds its way through a ceiling tile or a light fitting.
Newcastle Roofs carries out commercial roofing for industrial units, warehouses, shops with flats above, offices, churches and halls, and blocks of flats. We repair and replace felt, single-ply, GRP and metal roofs, and we plan the work around how your building is used. Whether you own one unit or manage several, you get a clear written report and a quote you can take to a landlord, board or insurer.
Roof types we work on
Most commercial buildings around Tyneside have one of a handful of roof types, and each fails in its own way.
- Built-up felt – common on older offices, shops and flat-roofed blocks. It usually fails at laps, upstands and outlets, and repairs can be patched in or a new cap sheet laid over a sound base.
- Single-ply membranes – TPO, PVC and EPDM sheets, mechanically fixed or bonded. Seams and penetrations are the weak points.
- GRP – used on smaller flat roofs, canopies and walkways where a tough, seamless surface is wanted.
- Profiled metal sheet – the standard covering on industrial units and warehouses. Coated steel sheets often corrode first at the cut edges along the eaves and end laps, and fixings and sealants age before the sheet itself.
Many sites have a mix, such as a metal-clad warehouse with a felted office block attached. We look at the whole building rather than one roof in isolation.
Repair, overlay or replace?
Not every tired roof needs stripping. A roof with a sound deck and dry insulation can often be overlaid with a new membrane, or a metal roof can be treated for cut-edge corrosion and resealed, extending its life without the disruption of a full strip. Where the deck is rotten or the insulation is wet, replacement is usually the honest answer.
If you renew the waterproofing across most of a roof, Building Regulations treat this as renovating a thermal element and normally expect the insulation to be brought up to current standards where that is technically and economically feasible. Overlaying the existing waterproofing is generally treated as a repair. We explain which applies to your roof and what building control may need to see.
Safety, asbestos and access on business premises
Commercial roofs carry risks a house roof does not. Fibre cement sheets and old roof lights can be fragile and will not take a person's weight, so we plan edge protection, crawl boards or safety netting before anyone goes up. Older sheeted roofs and soffits may contain asbestos; if your building predates 2000 and there is no asbestos survey, one should be carried out before work disturbs the roof.
Commercial clients also have duties under the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015, such as providing information about the building and allowing enough time and resources for the work. We help you meet these by supplying method statements, risk assessments and a clear programme.
Working around tenants and trading
On a busy trading estate, a high street parade or a block of flats, the roof work has to fit around the people below. We agree working areas, deliveries and skip positions with you, keep fire exits and parking clear, and phase larger roofs so only part of the building is exposed at a time. Where scaffolding or a hoist has to stand on the highway, a council permit is needed and we allow for it in the plan. On the coast and on exposed sites, we also allow for the effect of salt air and wind on metal fixings and trims when choosing materials.
