how a routine expansion revealed a $300,000 roofing problem across 65 units

Question

Self managed office warehouse park. Sixty five plus units. Owner had been running it himself for over a decade. No major issues. Tenants were paying. Buildings were standing.

He wanted to expand. Add new tenant spaces. Had a contractor lined up.

I walked the property before anything else.

The roof decking on multiple buildings was compromised. Moisture. Compression. Years of it. Nothing visible from inside yet. Nothing a tenant would think to report. The kind of deterioration that stays invisible until it isn't.

Three units had the same condition directly under the rooftop HVAC units.

That detail matters because decking failure under a rooftop unit isn't a slow leak situation. It's a sudden one. With tenants inside. During a Houston summer when those units are running at full load every day.

We weren't talking about a repair anymore. We were talking about liability, safety, and the kind of incident that ends up in front of an attorney.

New roofs went on all the buildings. Just over $300,000 total.

The new roofing system reduced the insurance premium enough to recover the full cost in five years. Twenty year warranty on the work.

He called me about adding two tenant spaces. He got something worth considerably more than that.

The expansion happened too. On a property that's now properly protected for the next twenty years.

What does your current property actually look like from the roof?

Richard F. · Answer

Along those lines, I had a client that bought a 54 unit complex, 6 three story walkups, with  flat roofs. Seller had disclosed prior issues of minor ceiling staining for several years, but when we took over the management, the story was that they had all been re-roofed and "no active leaks". The units had individual HVAC units in util closets. Through the first half of a hot, humid, midwest summer, several ceilings failed (sheetrock), and flooding was severe enough, and spread out enough, to reach the bottom floor, ultimately leaving seriously warped hardwood floors and lots of related damages.

Of course, multiple roofers inspected the roof and declared it was in great condition. A certain "hands on" kind of PM walked the roof, and actually agreed as well. Then I went in for a second look at the top floor units. Upon checking the utility closets more closely, I spotted a clue...an AC condensate pump tucked in between the plenum and the closet wall. With a copper line running UP.

I grabbed one of the roofers, told him to grab his saw, and we went back up. I paced off an area and told him to open it up. Lo and Behold, once the MIDDLE layer of roofing was removed, there it was...the end of the discharge pipe from the pump, cleanly cut off, and had been roofed over! After removing ALL of the prior roofing down to the original decking, all the cutoff pipes were extended, new tapered foam insulation was installed for better drainage, and the mod bit material was applied. Now all that was left was complete reno of quite a few units that suffered damage and/or mold was discovered upon investigation. It was a shame to lose all the hardwood flooring, but the reno'd units were like new, and rented quickly. I don't recall now the total project cost, but there were 4 of the buildings that needed the roof stripped off, 6 or 9 units with major flooring damage, and nearly 20 with a lot of sheetrock work.

Bruce Woodruff · Answer

Good catch! Great story....this applies to every basic home as well....