This might be interesting to my Inspector colleagues. It’s a Roof Inspection of a Commercial Property - flat roof approx. 6000 sf that had a TPO re-roof done 4 or 5 years ago on a 1963 property. Attachment shows a Roof Level Survey done by us with the Zip Level System. The image / photo the readings are shown on was done by our Drone. This is just a part of what will be in our report. Client has had numerous leaks thruout since roof replacement. Thermal Imaging and numerous other reviews will be done and included in report.
Good to see you again Joe. Hope you are doing well down there.
Curious… In what direction was the designed drainage plane flowing? It looks like a gutter at the top of the photo, but the numbers would infer a left to right slope, or just a damned near flat plane draining off all edges and the gutter would be over the entrance.
Thanks.
Good to see you again Joe. Hope you are doing well down there.
Curious… In what direction was the designed drainage plane flowing? It looks like a gutter at the top of the photo, but the numbers would infer a left to right slope, or just a damned near flat plane (without the damage/sagging roof) draining off all edges and the gutter would be over the entrance.
Thanks.
Thanks. Interesting indeed…I’m surprised that there appears to be no commercial roof drains installed to handle such a large roof area. I would have at least expected such to be normal, particularly to handle a potential maximum rainfall event.
I have 3 installed on my home with a TPO flat roof, for approximately 3000 S.F. of roof area along with 2 overflow roof scuppers.
Hey Jeff good to hear from you. The designated flow is (supposed to be) front to back (back being top of photo). But there is inadequate slope as the numbers show. And unfortunately it can’t drain off all edges because edges are higher in most areas, even back. Those are the outlined readings at perimeter. In those edge readings there was only one area lower than the reference point (center), that was at back left. Also there is alot of ponding areas. Roofer obviously didn’t do much prep work for the drainage slope. There’s also humps, dips, hollow spots, soft areas. It leaks at numerous areas every time it rains. Even though It hadn’t rained in days, thermal imaging showed it wet under roof and above ceiling at the back right area(s).
Hey Claude, I’m sure you don’t have all the leak issues that they have here. The roofer told the client that all roofs leak. Can you zoom in enough on my pic to see the seams / joints?
Joseph, first off let me say, thank you for your post.
Wonderful example of a roof. Very detailed elevations. Love it!
Ponding water on any flat roof surface equates to premature roofing covering failure IMO. It can also affect the building’s structure/s below.
I remember when the ZipLevel first arrived on the market place and the upgrades that took place afterwards. I was very interested in purchasing this inexpensive, for what it does, check level system.
Questions.
1: How long did it take you to perform the inspection?
2: What type of template do you use? 2a. Does ZipLevel supply a template? 2b. If so, is it an added fee? 2c. Are there other templates?
3: End to end, how long does it take to perform the assessment and write a report?
4: How did you acquire the overhead photo of the roof?
Looking forward to your response.
Robert
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Robert, The overhead photo used for my readings was done by our drone. 2 of my guys have Drones and we all have Zip Levels. We use the Zip Levels alot for foundation level surveys, grade drainage slope surveys, concrete flatwork drainage slope, flat roof level surveys & more. We offer the drone service especially for roofs that are too high or too steep. In this case the drone was used for getting me a good overhead photo to insert the readings of the zip level survey on. Photos attached show my guy Dan with Drone takeoff and with Zip Level on roof. Also shown is a leak area inside (one of many). It’s the back right area of building where there is a bad ponding area above it as you can see in readings photo. Original roofing contractor told client, that all roofs leak. As far as a Zip Level Template- I don’t have one. What I did for the level survey was recorded the readings manually on a google earth printout that was good enough for location reading accuracies at areas I pointed out to Dan that was handling the equipment as I documented the levels. Then back on computer I imputed the readings onto the drone photo with the use of the Paint program. As far as how long did it take- took about 10 minutes to do drone pics, 35 minutes for zip level survey on roof and then less than an hour for documenting readings on the drone photo of roof. I only handled that part, Dan is handling the rest of inspection and report, wasn’t with him for all of it, so can’t tell you how long he took. Can’t imagine he was there more than a couple more hours. He does take his time. This was a roof inspection w/ leak review. We did not do an inspection on entire property. Roof was inspected from on surface and Dan also did review leak areas from inside the building and did do thermal imaging. As far as reporting template- I have for different roof types customized inspection templates on Word Doc format.
Thanks for the reply.
Love how you mastered the ZipLevel accuracy to map roofs, foundation + structure and lot surveying.
Great Team Work. Drones, Zip Level and customized template.
Great idea/s.
You are a true professional. Wishing you much success.
Robert
Thanx Robert, best wishes to you.
Thanks Joseph for posting this back in 17. I am inspecting a TPO roof tomorrow in Katy and was looking for some guidance. My commercial background is limited and this posting has really shed some light.