Government · Salt Lake City & surrounding counties
Municipal Roof Replacement
Full roof replacement on municipal buildings, sequenced so the building stays in use.
What municipal roof replacement involves
We plan the tear-off around the building’s hours and open only what can be closed up again, so offices and public counters keep running.
A city building rarely gets to close for a roof. The plan has to work around the public.
What matters on municipal 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.
Keeping the building open
Most municipal buildings have the public coming through the door all day. Before anything comes off the roof we talk through where the work starts, where material is staged and how the entrances stay clear.
Noise is the other thing. A tear-off is loud, and on a building with council chambers or a courtroom we plan the loudest work around the schedule we are given.
We work Salt Lake City & surrounding counties, 9 counties in all, with 27 years in the trade and the last 8 as Hancock Signature.
How the system goes together
Coatings on a low-slope roof
A roof coating is a maintenance system, not a replacement. On a sound membrane or a metal roof with good fasteners, a properly prepped coating adds reflectivity and buys real years. Over a wet insulation layer or a membrane that has already delaminated, it is paint over a problem.
Prep is the whole job
Cleaning, seam treatment, and fixing what is actually broken take longer than rolling the coating on.
When coating is wrong
If a roof is done, coating it just delays the same conversation.
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.
Snow load is a real number
A roof up here carries weight. Wet spring snow runs heavier per foot than the dry powder that falls in January, and a roof that shrugged off three feet in February can groan under eighteen inches in April. What matters is how the load moves off, which comes down to pitch, sheathing condition and whether the framing was built for the zone it sits in.
Where the weight collects
Valleys and the low side of a dormer are where snow piles instead of sliding. We look at those first, because that is where decking softens and fasteners start backing out.
Inversion keeps a roof damp
Winter here can park a lid of cold air over the valley floor for a week straight. Nothing dries during that stretch. A shaded slope that got wet on Monday is still wet on Friday, the sheathing under it never gives its moisture back to the air, and any lap that was going to wick does its wicking slowly with no interruption.
Gray weeks do quiet damage
Storms get blamed for roofs. Nine flat gray days with the sun never touching the north face do more, and nobody remembers them.
What this looks like on a real roof
There is a version of municipal 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 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.
Do you handle the insurance side?
On hail-damaged roofs, we work with your insurance to get the roof covered. We document the damage thoroughly with photographs, so the claim reflects what is actually on the roof.
Talk to Hancock
Ask about municipal roof replacement
Call (801) 382-8898 or send a note. We will look at the roof and tell you straight what it needs.