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Sent by a restoration contractor, under their own name and logo. Who it is for: Facility and maintenance teams. When to send it: Send it before spring storm season and offer the roof walk with it.
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EMERGENCY GUIDE
[ Your logo ]
Roof Leak Response Checklist
A roof leak spreads fast into ceilings, walls, insulation, and electrical. This guide covers what to do while it is running, and the walk that keeps it from starting.
When it leaks
- Protect people and electrical. Move people from under the leak, and keep clear of wet light fixtures, ceiling tiles, and electrical panels. A sagging or bulging ceiling can drop without warning; stay out from under it.
- Contain what you can, safely. Place buckets and pull tarps or plastic over contents and equipment. Do not relieve a bulging ceiling. Clear the area underneath it, rope it off, and call us. Relieving it takes the right equipment and the right footing.
- Find and note the source. Trace where water is entering if it is safe to reach, and photograph the ceiling, walls, and floor before anything is moved.
- Where it drips is not where it entered. Water runs along the deck and the framing until it finds a seam in the ceiling grid, so the wet insulation, deck and top plate can sit bays away from the stain. The space above the ceiling is the scope.
- Do not send anyone onto the roof. Wet roofs are a fall hazard. Leave roof access and any temporary tarping above ground level to the crew.
- Call for mitigation early. Hidden water in the deck, insulation, and wall cavities keeps spreading. EPA's clean-water guidance is to dry wet materials within 24 to 48 hours. Category 2 and Category 3 water call for a different decision. Call [Company Name] to dry it properly and document the loss.
Before it leaks
- Walk the roof twice a year and after every severe storm, check it against the conditions listed under What to look for, and keep a record of each walk.
- Any condition on that list that you find needs repair or examination by a qualified professional.
- Clear roof drains, scuppers and gutters ahead of storm season and again after any severe storm. Plugged drains and loose drain covers turn ordinary rain into a standing load on the deck.
- Photograph every condition you find and date the photos. A repair you cannot show is a repair the adjuster has not seen.
What to look for
- Cracks, splits or seams that have let go in the roof covering.