Category: NIR Blog

Prizes only available in United States.   NIR Roof Care is having a Halloween contest with some spooktacular prizes.  Please watch our promo video below to see how you could win a $100 visa gift card and $200 off NIR services. https://www.facebook.com/NIRroofcare101/   ROOF LEAK HORROR STORY In the spirit …

From our roads to our roofs, mother nature’s damage hits many of our budgets.   If you own or manage a commercial building, understanding how weather affects your commercial roof is essential.  Hot days then cool nights, summers then winters can be very hard on a roof, especially one that is …

Before considering a complete replacement for your commercial flat roof, a commercial roof coating could restore your waterproof barrier between the elements and your company.  Choosing the correct product and applying correctly are essential to avoid costly mistakes.   How Do I Select The Right Roof Coating for My Flat …

Since it was designed in the 1880s by Swiss inventor Karl Elsener, the simple, portable Swiss Army Knife has been a staple in every military branch, fishing toolbox, boy scout handbag, survivalist backpack and so on.  It’s a single object, with numerous uses that came from one powerful idea. The only major …

“Your Roof’s Care is Our Concern®“ At NIR, we are FOCUSED on caring for and extending the life of your Roof, all while providing outstanding services. “NIR Roof Care Plan®“ Your NIR Roof Care Plan® will reduce Roof leaks by 50% and increase the life of your Roof by 100%, all …

Stop Throwing Your Money Away on Commercial Roof Replacement! You could save $70,000 to $2,225,000 in 5 years . . . There are two things I know about you: You have a roof You will spend anywhere from $70,000 to $2,225,000 in the next 5 – 15 years on a …

SKYLIGHTS – Let The Light In, But Keep The Water Out! Exposing the Secrets to Maintaining Your Skylights How can allowing warm natural light into a building space not be a great addition to a building space? Well, while tenants and occupant will typically welcome natural light, they are not always …

NIR is excited to announce the opening of its newest Service Routes: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania            Phoenix, Arizona              Cincinnati, OH              Sacramento, CA               NIR also serves Illinois, Wisconsin, Tennessee, North Carolina, South Dakota, …

SOME COMMERCIAL ROOF CARE ADVICE Preventative maintenance programs, comprehensive roof plans, roof management, regularly scheduled roof investigations, PM’s: there are a number of ways that roofing contractors look to articulate and market their interpretation of the ongoing needs of a commercial roof. Regardless of whatever new and cool marketing jargon …

Spring may be knocking at the door, but make sure your prepared for winter’s end….. We Chicagoans have taken a relentless, snow-filled pounding this winter, and the worries keep piling up. The advice seems to be running on loop: Check for ice dams, shovel out hydrants, clear vents. But what happens …

What Makes A Roof “Green“? In the last edition, we explored some of the current trends with garden roofs, commonly called a “green” roof. Garden roofs are not the only green roofs on the market. There are a number of other ways that a roof can be categorized in this …

Reducing the risk of ice dams forming will help avoid water damage. Ice dams are ridges of ice that form at the edge of a roof or around drains and prevent melting snow from draining off your roof. The water that backs up behind this ice dam can leak into …

Garden Roofs Are Cool, But Who’s Using Them?   It is estimated that there are about 360 rooftop gardens, partially or fully covered with vegetation in the City of Chicago alone. In a 2010 report, the City of Chicago estimated that, 5,469,463 SF of Rooftop Gardens have been installed in …

MY ROOF NEEDS TO LAST HOW LONG?! That Doesn’t Even Make Sense! Under current law, the depreciation schedule for commercial roofs is 39 years even though the lifespan of the roofs is 17 years. That gap makes it difficult, nearly impossible, for businesses to recover investments in roofing systems. While …

REFLECTIVE ROOF SYSTEMS OFFER OBVIOUS ENERGY SAVINGS? We have done some articles in the previous editions regarding white roofs vs. black roofs and the debate that continues based on who you ask. It is assumed the debate will continue for years to come and codes will change and technology will …

MONEY OVER YOUR HEAD. There was a time when roofs were not a maintenance item. That was before single ply roofs and all the new advances in materials to care for them were introduced into the roofing industry. But the days of neglecting your roof are over and are no …

2015 ROOFING CODE CLARIFICATIONS TO COST BUILDING OWNERS EVEN MORE $MONEY$ During the code hearings for the 2105 International Energy Conservation Code (IECC), an important clarification was added for commercial roofing systems. This clarification features new definitions for re-roofing activity to make it very clear that almost every commercial re-roofing project …

Are YOU Protected This Winter? When snow and ice build-up on your commercial property what should you do?  Better yet, what happens when that snow and ice begins to melt?  A lot of the time, it puts the people below in danger and the business owners at high risk for injury. Ice …

  UNDERNEATH IT ALL Deck Replacement Can Be The Most Crucial Part Of A Re-Roofing Project It’s the part of the roof that gets even less attention than the roof. Hard to notice or even see in may cases, the job of the roofing deck is to hold up the …

NEW ROOF, NEW WARRANTY – DO I NEED A ROOF CARE PLAN? Why Are Warranties Important? While the public’s view on warranties typically varies, a new roof is a big investment, generally involving thousands of your hard-earned dollars and lasting 15, 20, 25 years, or more. As with any big investment, it …

Winter is around the corner – Reduce Your Ice Dam Risk Now! Reducing the risk of ice dams forming will help avoid water damage.  Ice dams are ridges of ice that form at the edge of a roof or around drains.  Bottom Line – they prevent melting snow from draining off …

Roof Care – It’s Like Going to the Dentist Since childhood, we have made it a habit of going to visit our dentist on a regular basis regardless of how diligent we were in brushing and flossing our pearly whites. We did this then and continue this habit now because …

SKYLIGHTS – Let The Light In, But Keep The Water Out! Exposing the Secrets to Maintaining Your Skylights How can allowing warm natural light into a building space not be a great addition to a building space? Well, while tenants and occupant will typically welcome natural light, they are not …

SAFETY FIRST – Even at Home At NIR Roof Care, we always stress the importance of safety in the work place. Being in the roofing industry puts us in harms way every day and creates a higher probability of accidents occurring. However, while we stress to our customers to leave it …

Problem Prevention is your Best Value Some 10 years ago, business guru Peter F. Drucker published an article in The Wall Street Journal entitled, “We need to Measure, not Count.” The thrust of the article was that traditional cost accounting does not take into account the cost of non-producing. He …

Your Roof is like a Rubber band – Help snap back into shape! We all know we had one of the worst winters last year.  From our roads to our roofs, repair damage hit many of our budgets. Today is to be one of the hottest days of this mild …

Winter and Your Roof   According to the Farmers’ Almanac, we are not only in for a very wet (snowy) winter, but also a “numbing” cold winter.  Aside from the difficulties of keeping yourself safe and warm, if you own or manage a commercial building, the problem gets worse.  Winter …

EXCESSIVE SNOW LOAD CAN CAUSE YOUR ROOF TO COLLAPSE When heavy snow meets fierce winds, even the best-engineered buildings can collapse. That’s why it’s important to be adequately prepared and insured for this type of peril. How snow load can damage your buildings: Snow load is the downward force on …

How Do I Select The Right Roof Coating for My Flat Roof? What Coatings Are There?  ASPHALT COATINGS: Asphalt cutbacks are bituminous products thinned with a solvent to aid application. Manufacturers add aluminum pigments to the topcoats for reflectivity, while other modifiers can enhance strength, longevity and thickness. Fiberglass fibers or …

What is Good & Not So Good About My Roof Warranty? Everybody loves a warranty. Why wouldn’t you want a guarantee on something that you just spent yours or your companies hard earned money on? And, in times when budgets are tight and every dollar counts, you need to make …

By Timothy K. Lynn Many of you may have a saying about your roof – “It doesn’t leak if it is not raining. And you can’t fix it when it is raining.” As the founder of NIR Roof Care, Inc. (NIR) – Read more here

With the arrival of a new year, it is time to evaluate those roofing issues that have recently changed, as well as those that reflect long-term stability and durability. How Much Insulation is Enough?  The September 2013 issue of Interface Magazine, the journal of RCI, noted many transitions taking place in …

Low sloped roofs are much like a patch quilt. They are compiled of material being connected with other pieces of material to create one continual piece. Just like your favorite quilt, your roof will wear out over time. Here are a few of the biggest factors in the deterioration of …

With the movement to be more “green” and environmentally conscious, the rules are quickly changing when it comes to the building envelope. From the walls to the floors, ceilings to parking lots, it is much desired to reduce the carbon footprint one building at a time. So, when it comes …

At this point, nearly all buildings have several inches of thick ice sitting beneath the layers of snow that can become dangerous once it begins to melt.  “Unless you are prepared for this, it can happen before you know it,” said Brett Polhill, Superintendent and Safety Director at NIR Roof …

Over the past 15 years, reflective or “cool” roofs have been promoted as an effective way for building owners to save energy and lower utility costs while reducing a building’s carbon footprint. The belief that white roofs are always the most environmentally friendly and energy-efficient choice is widely accepted. The use …

You are aging, you cannot deny it. Every day takes its toll on you, little by little. Because nobody wants to get old, we do things to delay the inevitable – we eat right (some of the time), exercise regularly (or occasionally) and see our doctors for check-ups to be …

Infrared thermography has become a popular technology for maintenance and engineering managers seeking fast, reliable, and non-destructive testing in institutional and commercial facilities. Whether used to inspect electrical systems or mechanical equipment for heat-related failure, infrared technology is being successfully applied in a growing number of operational areas. A facility’s …

In this era of continued rising energy costs and concerns about the environment, choosing the right roofing system is often a complex problem that contractors, architects, building owners and specifiers face. The simple solution to this challenge has somehow evolved to be: “White is always right.” The white roof bandwagon has gained …

Thermal imaging alone cannot verify the presence of moisture or the leak’s location. Technicians should use alternative test method such as a moisture meter or a destructive core sample, to confirm the problem. Infrared also cannot find the exact penetration on the roof surface alone. What a thermal scan CAN …

When it comes to roof decks, you probably don’t pay much attention to what is underneath your roof membrane. Just like roof membranes, there are a variety of different types of decks that provide support and stability to the roof system as a whole; metal, concrete, gypsum and even wood. …

Roof maintenance is important for protecting the asset that is most essential for keeping tenants dry and preventing water intrusion from above. An important component of this asset management strategy is regular roofing replacement. But unexpected problems often arise. What if an 8- or 10-year-old roof starts leaking but is …

Let’s talk about the caulk and sealants on your roof (insert yawn here). While this may not be the most interesting topic to review, there are some things that owners, managers and engineers alike should be aware of.  Not all caulk and sealants are created equally and there are some …

Everybody loves a warranty. Why wouldn’t you want a guarantee on something that you just spent yours or your company’s hard earned money on? And, in times when budgets are tight and every dollar counts, you need to make sure you are not only getting the best deal today, but …

What Coatings are there? ASPHALT COATINGS: Asphalt cutbacks are bituminous products thinned with a solvent to aid application. Manufacturers add aluminum pigments to the topcoats for reflectivity, while other modifiers can enhance strength, longevity and thickness. Fiberglass fibers or strands can provide additional reinforcement. Asphalt emulsions are similar to cutbacks but …