Breakdown of Installing a Roof in the Winter

Winter…some of us love it and some of us loathe it. Your roof doesn’t care one way or another except that the winter months of extreme cold and precipitation can play havoc on a roof that is on its way to total failure.

While the people inside the building scramble placing buckets under each new leak in the hope that it will stop raining or the snow on the roof finally clears off, the roof deteriorates further.

Once misconception is that you can’t install a new roof in the winter. Fortunately, that’s not true. While we can’t when there is snow or rain but following the manufacture’s guidelines, cold weather applications are available.

Do Roofers Work in the Winter?

When we bid new construction one of the questions we ask is when will the building be ready for the roof? When we hear winter, the next thing we ask is, why they want an adhered roof system? Obviously adhered systems require adhesives, which are temperature sensitive and can delay installation of the new roof. However, in attempt to overcome this obstacle, the manufacturers are now producing new adhesives that can be applied in temperatures of 20 degrees.

Even with this change, installing your roof with a standard mechanically attached system or the hybrid, RhinoBond attachment, can be done with any temperatures short of zero. As a guideline, we tell our customers that we use the “two coffee cup rule”. That is, if our men buy two cups of coffee from the lunch truck, one to drink and one to keep their hands warm, then it’s to cold to work.

If your roof is at the point where repairs are useless and your only hope is that it doesn;’t rain or snow this winter, we strongly recommend that if the roof can be recovered or has to be removed prior to the new roof installation, it be done as soon as possible. Stop worrying about the winter, that’s our job. You need a new roof!

Besides, you may be able to save a few dollars from companies that want to keep their crews busy in January and February! If that’s the case, contact MJT Roofing and we will be glad to provide you with an estimate. We are premier Northern New Jersey commercial roofers and will be glad to assist you.