Commercial Flat Roofing
Flat and low-slope commercial roofs face a different set of problems than pitched residential roofs: mainly, standing water and UV breakdown over a wide open surface. Our commercial flat roofing service in Savannah covers installation, repair, and coatings built to handle exactly that.
We work with the systems that perform best on flat commercial roofs (TPO, EPDM, and modified bitumen) and we size drainage and seams to actual Savannah rainfall, not a generic spec sheet. That’s the difference between a flat roof that holds water and one that doesn’t.
Whether you’re managing a strip mall, warehouse, or office building, downtime costs money. We plan installs and major repairs around your business hours where we can, and we give you a straight answer on what a roof needs (repair, coating, or full replacement) before we start.
- TPO, EPDM, and modified bitumen installation and repair
- Drainage and seam work sized for Savannah rainfall, not guesswork
- Scheduling built around minimizing disruption to your business
Got a flat roof that needs attention? Contact Brazen Roofing for a free commercial roof inspection.
This is part of our full Commercial Roofing service line, and Savannah property owners can also count on us for Residential Roof Replacement and Coastal Storm Repair.
What Savannah Does to a Flat Roof
Savannah is one of the harder commercial roofing climates we work in, and it is hard in three separate ways at once.
- Rainfall volume. Savannah takes roughly 50 inches a year, and a lot of it arrives in short, heavy summer downpours. A drainage design that copes with a slow steady rain will pond under a Savannah thunderstorm, and ponding is what ages a membrane fastest.
- Humidity and heat. Long, humid summers mean a membrane that never fully dries and adhesives that stay warm. Reflective membranes earn their cost here in cooling load alone.
- Hurricane season. June through November. Wind uplift on a wide flat roof concentrates at the perimeter and the corners, which is why edge metal and perimeter attachment matter more than anything happening in the field of the roof.
Add salt air on anything east of downtown and you have a fourth factor, mostly affecting fasteners, flashings and rooftop equipment rather than the membrane itself.
Buildings We Work On Around Savannah
Commercial flat roofing across Chatham County and the surrounding communities: the Historic District and downtown, Midtown and the Southside, Pooler, Garden City, Port Wentworth, Georgetown, Thunderbolt, Wilmington Island, Tybee Island, Richmond Hill and Bloomingdale.
- Downtown and Historic District. Older low-slope assemblies, tight access, no room for staging, and frequently a restaurant underneath. Grease exhaust is a membrane-selection question, not a detail, it rules out some systems and points straight at PVC.
- Warehouse and distribution near the port. Very large single-membrane roofs where the economics of a coating restoration versus a full replacement are worth running properly before anyone tears anything off.
- Strip centers and retail. Multiple tenants, multiple HVAC curbs, and the most common leak calls we get. Curbs and penetrations, not the field membrane.
- Office and medical. Occupied buildings that cannot tolerate open roof work overhead, which makes sequencing the whole job.
- Multifamily and HOA. Shared decisions and harder scheduling. See multifamily and HOA roofing.
Repair, Coat or Replace, and How We Decide
This is the only question that matters on an aging flat roof, and it is not answered by looking at it. It is answered with core samples and a moisture survey.
- Repair when the membrane is sound and the problem is isolated, open laps, failed fasteners, a bad curb flashing, a split at a transition. See commercial repairs.
- Coat or restore when the membrane is aging but intact and the insulation underneath is dry. This runs around half the cost of replacement with no tear-off and almost no disruption. See liquid-applied roofing.
- Replace when the insulation is wet, the membrane has widespread splits or shrinkage, or there are already two roofs in place. See commercial roof replacement.
The reason we take cores rather than quoting off a walkthrough is simple: coating over saturated insulation seals the water in and lets the deck keep deteriorating out of sight. It looks like a solved problem for about three years. We use infrared scanning to map where moisture has actually traveled before we cut anything.
Membrane Choices for Savannah Buildings
- TPO: reflective and heat-welded, the default for new low-slope work here. The reflectivity is worth real money through a Savannah summer.
- PVC, the answer over restaurants and any building with grease or chemical exhaust. It costs more and it is the correct spend.
- EPDM: long field history and easy to repair, though the dark surface works against you in this climate unless it is coated.
- Modified bitumen: multi-ply redundancy, and the most forgiving system under regular foot traffic.
- Standing seam and PBR metal, for the sloped and semi-sloped sections most Savannah commercial buildings have somewhere.
Before Hurricane Season
The cheapest commercial roof work in Savannah is the work you do in May. Clear drains, secure loose edge metal, check every curb and penetration, and photograph the roof so you have a documented before-condition if you end up filing a claim. Our guide to preparing a commercial roof for hurricane season has the full checklist.
If a storm has already come through, do not wait for the insurer to schedule someone. Start at storm restoration and read how to check for roof damage after a hurricane. Documented damage assessed early is the difference between a paid claim and an argument.
Keeping It Working
Flat roofs fail on a maintenance schedule, not a calendar. Drains clog, sealant at penetrations ages, and a tenant’s HVAC contractor cuts a corner nobody sees. Our preventative maintenance program covers scheduled inspection, drain clearing and documentation, which most manufacturer warranties require anyway. Read how often a commercial roof should be inspected and why roof maintenance is essential for your business.
See examples of our commercial roof work, or read about our commercial installation process. More about Brazen in Savannah on our Savannah roofing page.
Frequently Asked Questions
It depends far more on drainage and maintenance than on the membrane. A well-drained, maintained single-ply roof reaches its rated life here; the same membrane holding water in a low spot will not. Standing water and UV are the two things that age a Savannah flat roof fastest.
Coat it if the membrane is aging but intact and the insulation underneath is dry: that runs about half the cost of replacement with no tear-off. Replace it if the insulation is wet, the membrane has widespread splits, or there are already two roofs in place. Core samples answer this, not a visual inspection.
TPO for most new low-slope work, because reflectivity matters in this heat. PVC if the building has grease or chemical exhaust, which covers most downtown restaurants. EPDM where repairability matters most. Modified bitumen where there is regular foot traffic on the roof.
Yes, and that is normal. We tear off only what we can make watertight the same day, and we plan installs and major repairs around your business hours where we can. Most of our Savannah commercial customers do not close for a day.
No. Ponding water accelerates membrane aging, adds structural load and eventually finds a seam. It is a drainage and slope problem, and no coating solves it. The fix is usually tapered insulation, crickets or additional drains, and it is worth doing properly.
We document the damage properly (photographs, moisture mapping and a written assessment) which is what a claim actually turns on. Get the roof assessed early after a storm rather than waiting for the carrier to send someone.