County Roof Replacement
Roof replacement on county buildings, from courthouses to road shops.
What county roof replacement involves
Low-slope membrane, metal and shingle roofs replaced on county facilities, with each stage photographed for the county’s records.
County buildings run from older masonry courthouses to steel shop buildings, and each one needs its own plan.
What matters on county roof replacement
Planning around the building
Government buildings stay in use while the roof is worked on. The plan covers where we get onto the roof, where material is staged and how the entrances stay clear, before anything comes off.
A record of the work
Public buildings need a file of what was done. We photograph each stage and record the materials used, so the next person responsible for that roof knows what is up there.
Older county buildings
A lot of county buildings in northern Utah are older masonry with parapet walls and roofs that have been patched over the decades. The tear-off usually shows what the patching was hiding, and that is when the decking and flashing get fixed properly.
Newer county shops and storage buildings tend to be metal, and the work there is mostly fasteners, panel movement and how the snow comes off the roof.
How the system goes together
Low-slope transitions over a porch
The spot that gives homeowners here the most trouble is where a nearly flat porch or addition roof meets a pitched main roof. Shingles need slope to work and a porch often does not have it, so the correct answer is a membrane on the low part carried up under the shingles above, with the transition detailed so nothing depends on a lap.
Shingles on a flat porch will leak
Not immediately, and not in every storm. But water sits on that plane after every event and shingles were never designed to hold water still.
Flat roofs and the membrane choice
Low-slope roofs do not shed, they hold. TPO is a heat-welded white sheet that reflects a lot of the summer load. EPDM is a black rubber sheet that handles cold and movement well. PVC costs more and handles grease and chemicals, which is why it ends up over restaurant kitchens. Modified bitumen comes in rolls torched or adhered in layers, and built-up is the old tar-and-gravel assembly still sitting on plenty of buildings here.
Drainage beats material
Whichever sheet goes down, if the water does not get to a drain within a couple of days, the roof is going to fail early.
What we check
- Field condition and granule loss
- Valleys, ridges and every transition
- Penetrations and their flashing
- Gutter and fascia condition
How we approach it
Look first
We get on the roof and read what is actually happening before quoting anything.
Say what we find
Photographs and a plain explanation, including when the answer is that you do not need us yet.
Built in sequence
Crews we hire and run, working the right detail in the right order.
Leave it clean
Magnet over the yard, container gone, walked with you.
Dust storms before the rain
Ahead of a summer cell the wind arrives dry and full of grit off the open ground west of here. That grit gets driven into every horizontal surface on a roof, then the rain lands on top of it and packs it into a paste in the valleys and the gutter seams.
Grit is an abrasive
It grinds at the mat under foot traffic and it holds moisture against metal long after the surface has dried.
So we clear twice a year
Once before summer, once after the leaves are down.
Southwest exposure ages fastest
If you only had time to look at one slope on a house here, look at the one facing between south and west. It takes the high sun through the middle of the day and it takes the afternoon heat, so the binder in the asphalt gives up there first. Cupped tabs, bare patches of mat, and a granule line in the gutter under that slope alone.
A roof can be two ages
And knowing that keeps a repair from turning into a replacement it did not need to be.
What this looks like on a real roof
There is a version of county roof replacement that gets sold off a clipboard in the driveway and a version that comes off actually reading the roof. The second one costs the same and lasts.
What follows is the part most people never get told: what usually went wrong before we arrived, and what the job looks like when it is done in the right order.
Where roofs go wrong
The shortcut we see most
Rooftop units and drains added over the years, with the roof patched around them instead of reworked. Those patches are where most public-building leaks start.
What good looks like instead
Every penetration, curb and drain flashed into the roof system properly, and a record of it in the facility file.
Signs worth a look
- Water still standing days after a storm
- Ceiling-tile stains near rooftop units
- Seams lifting at the edges and parapets
- The same area repaired more than once
What to expect
Before the job starts
A walk of the whole roof, photographs of what we found, and a plain written scope. We talk through access, staging and the building’s schedule before any work is planned.
While the work is underway
The building stays in use. Material is staged where it is out of the way, entrances stay clear, and the loudest work is planned around the schedule we are given.
When it is done
Photographs of each stage and a record of the materials installed, ready for the facility file.
Related work
Government covers more than one job, and they are not interchangeable. These are the others in the same family, each on its own page.
Questions we get asked
Not the question you had? Call the shop and ask a person. We would rather talk it through than have you guess from a website.
(801) 382-8898Can you work while the building is in use?
Usually. We plan access, staging and the loudest work around the building’s schedule before the job starts.
Do you document the work?
Yes. Each stage is photographed and the materials are recorded, so the facility has a file of what was installed.
Can you look at several of our buildings?
Yes. We can inspect them all and give you a list in order of need, so the budget goes to the roof closest to failing.
What happens if you find bad decking?
We show you. The decking is only visible during a tear-off, so that is when soft sheathing gets found and replaced. We photograph it rather than just add it to a list.
What makes a Utah roof different?
Snow load, ice at the eaves, canyon wind and high-altitude sun, all on the same roof. A crew that learned roofing somewhere mild has to learn it again up here.
Will you tell me if I do not need a new roof?
Yes. Plenty of what we look at turns out to be a repair, and we say so. A roof with years left in it gets left alone, and you get the photographs either way.
Ask about county roof replacement
Call (801) 382-8898 or send a note. We will look at the roof and tell you straight what it needs.