The importance of hiring professionals

AAR Expert Bridget Wilson says it's key to make sure the people climbing onto your roof know exactly what they're doing.

Editor's note: The following is a transcript of a conversation with Bridget Wilson of Cardinal Roofing. 

Bridget Wilson: Hey everybody, this month's topic what precautions should home and building owners consider when having other trades on their roof? Make sure you talk to those trades and make sure that they do before and after pictures so that way you have documentation of everything. And make sure that they are aware that you are concerned about your roof and any problems that that may come about. Ask them how is their equipment going to be put onto the roof? Hopefully not bear onto the shingles, tile, metal, or flat roofing material. Hopefully they have some type of a pad or something to protect the roof material.

And as a commercial building owner, if you have a flat roof, you should definitely have walk pads around anything that needs to be serviced on that roof. The walk pad is just a thicker version with that way they don't slip and fall as well. But that thicker version of a pad will protect the roof a little bit better. When HVAC is being serviced, they're opening and closing those units and they're taking screws in and out and it creates little tiny

Tiny pieces of metal that are super hot and can actually fall onto the roof and burn tiny little pinholes through the roof. Yeah, I know, big problem. So you want to make sure that there is a walking pad there or that the HVAC person is putting a something there, a pad of some sort or some type of a protection for your roof. and again, those before and after pictures will be great. If a plumber is up there, if they need to auger something, something's wiggling, that can also create leak problems.

Having your roof inspected after another trade's been there is always a good idea, especially if it's a regular maintenance thing. If you have a commercial building and it's every year the AC guys out there, it's not a bad idea to then the year after, or excuse me, the week after have the roofer go check it out. If you own a building that needs to have a degreaser, a vent cleaned out with a degreaser, protect the roof at all costs because that degreaser can really ruin any material that you have on your roof. You don't want that degreaser to sit on that roof at all or even touch the roofing material. All your warranties will be void because it's an asphalt product typically. if it's not an asphalt product, it it doesn't need that degreaser which can destroy that material.

So again, make sure you're hiring professionals to do all of the maintenance on your buildings. Don't hire some yahoo that's gonna spray some degreaser they got at the restaurant depot. Make sure it's somebody who knows exactly what they're doing. And you can also ask your roofers who do they suggest and see if your roofer can do stuff like that. That's always a good choice because then the roofer is protecting your roof.