Restaurant Roofing in Greenville, TX

A rubber boot at the base of a vent stack has cracked and leans away from the pipe. Grease has crept under it. The next hard rain will find that gap, and it will drip into the kitchen or onto a table.

Restaurant roofs can carry dense exhaust and mechanical equipment. A leak near the wrong penetration can interrupt service. One leak at the wrong place closes a dining room for an evening. We walk the roof, find the weak boots, curbs and seams, and give you the cost of fixing them before the lunch rush instead of during it.

What does a kitchen do to the roof above it?

It feeds it. Exhaust hoods push heat, steam and grease up through the roof. Walk-in coolers send heat out of the condensers. Dumpster enclosures and fryer vents stack more on top. The membrane around each one takes a beating that the plain part of the roof never sees.

Grease is the biggest problem. It softens many roofing materials and speeds up cracking, and it makes seams swell and peel. Without a grease containment pan, exhaust can deposit grease around the fan. Grease exposure can degrade some membranes, so inspect the surface before choosing between a repair and replacement.

Where do restaurant roofs leak first?

At the penetrations. Restaurants often have several penetrations close together for exhaust, plumbing and mechanical equipment.

• Pipe boots on vent stacks and plumbing, cracked from heat and grease.
• Hood exhaust fan curbs with loose flashing and no containment pan.
• Condenser and walk-in cooler supports where the pad has settled.
• Parapet and mansard walls with split base flashing.
• Roof drains and scuppers clogged by grease and grit.

Where a chronic leak repeats after a patch, an infrared moisture survey maps the wet insulation, so the repair goes on the real spot. Plenty of small roofs also need work at skylight and penetration flashing that was never done right the first time.

What does a restaurant roof cost, and when do the doors close?

Because the roof is small, the price is driven by detail: the number of penetrations, the condition of the deck, how much insulation is wet and whether the old roof comes off. A full replacement on a small building is quick, but every curb and boot has to be redone.

Lost service can become an operating cost alongside the repair. We price repair and replacement separately, then identify the work area and timing so the owner can plan around service.

A recover over a dry, sound roof can skip tear-off. A commercial roof repair visit can group the small fixes together, so a restaurant owner pays for one trip.

Which roof holds up under grease and heat?

Near kitchen exhaust, PVC roofing is one option because it resists fats and cooking oils better than many single-ply sheets. Its seams are heat-welded. Where a roof is already in good shape, a grease containment kit on the exhaust fan stops the damage at the source.

A white surface reflects heat and keeps the room below a little cooler, which matters on a roof with a hot kitchen under it. A cover board and insulation layer protects the deck and takes foot traffic from the HVAC and hood cleaners who climb up there every month.

We do not use open flame near grease vents. Hot work is kept to a minimum or avoided, which is one more reason to choose a heat-welded or cold-applied system.

Can the crew work over a dining room at lunch?

Not at lunch. We plan around the service. Early morning, before the doors open, is the best window for noisy tear-off and lift work. A small repair is often done in a single morning. A full reroof on a freestanding restaurant is phased by roof size, access, tear-off and the weather window.

Ceiling protection goes in first. We tell the manager which tables, hallways and prep areas sit under the work, and put up cover where needed. The lift stays off the drive-through lane and the delivery door. Odor and fumes stay away from air intakes.

On an occupied building reroofing job, the day, the zone and the finish time go on one sheet. Rain gets a tarp and a temporary membrane, and every shift ends dried in.

What do Greenville storms and summers do to a restaurant roof?

Wind loads can stress parapets and fan housings. In June 2019, baseball-sized hail and straight-line wind near 85 mph hit Greenville and broke storefront glass across downtown blocks. Shops line Lee Street and Washington Street in Downtown Greenville, among older masonry commercial buildings. A restaurant roof there still needs its own inspection of exhaust curbs, drains, membrane and perimeter details.

The June 2019 storm path also ran through Campbell, at I-30 exits 101 and 104. A roof walk establishes whether a particular building sustained damage. In Rowlett, an EF4 tornado cut a 13-mile path on December 26, 2015 and damaged hundreds of homes and businesses. That regional record shows why edge metal, fan housings and curb attachments belong in a post-storm inspection.

North Texas summer heat adds stress around kitchen exhausts. On a restaurant roof, inspect membrane and flashing near exhaust equipment for heat and grease damage. A shared building also shares drains and leak paths, so coordinate repairs with the property contact and neighboring tenants; a shopping center roof needs one drainage plan, while a grocery next door carries its own equipment load on a grocery store roof.

Commercial Roofing Questions

Why is there a grease stain on the roof around the exhaust fan?

The fan is spitting grease past its filters or has no containment pan. The stain is also a warning, since grease eats most membranes over time. Install a containment pan, schedule hood cleaning and have us look at the membrane around the fan. A repaired patch on a grease-soaked sheet will not hold, so we replace the damaged piece instead.

Do I have to close the restaurant for a roof repair?

Rarely. A repair is a morning's work and happens above the ceiling, away from the kitchen line. We cover the space under the work, keep fumes away from intakes and finish before service. For a full replacement, the plan spells out any day when a section of the dining room needs to be off limits, and we give notice ahead of that.

My landlord owns the roof but I own the kitchen fan. Who pays?

Read the lease, and keep records either way. The roof usually belongs to the owner, and the equipment on it to the tenant, so the damage around the fan is often a shared question. We photograph the cause and the condition and write it up plainly. That gives you and the landlord the same facts to settle it.

Is a flat roof over a restaurant worth coating?

Only when the membrane is sound and the insulation under it is dry. Put a coating over a grease-soaked roof and it peels. If the problem is sun and age, a coating is a fair way to add years at a lower price than a new roof. We scan, test and then tell you which side of that line the roof sits on.

What if a storm blows the fan off the roof on Saturday night?

Call us. We answer around the clock, including holidays, and a crew can tarp the opening and put up a temporary cover the same night. Take photos from the inside and outside for your insurer. Then we write the permanent repair, with a fan curb that is properly flashed and fastened, for the next business day.