The short answer
Often yes. A commercial roof can usually be replaced in phases, one bay or section at a time, with each opened area made weathertight before the next. Noisy or sensitive tasks can be moved to early mornings, evenings or weekends. Whether it works for your building depends on the structure, the use below and the roof system, so it is settled at the survey.
Closing a business for a re-roof is rarely the only route. The plan is about keeping the roof weathertight at every stage and agreeing the hours of work.
Phasing the roof
Phasing means splitting the roof into sections and finishing each before opening the next. A long unit might be done in four or five bays, each stripped, re-covered and sealed in turn, so that only a portion of the building is under a temporary cover at any one moment.
How big is each phase?
It depends on the roof system, the weather and the crew, and we settle it with you at the survey. Sheet systems lend themselves to small phases. Membrane roofs can be done in sections too, with each day's work tied into the old roof at a clean edge before the crew leaves.
The aim is a roof that is closed to rain every evening. A forecast of heavy rain moves the day's work, and stock, machinery and the people below are protected far more by that habit than by any dust sheet. If a bay cannot be closed by the end of a shift, it is not started, and the crew picks a smaller bay instead. That discipline is slower on paper and quicker in practice, because nothing has to be dried out or replaced the next morning.
Temporary weathering and protection below
Where a section is open, it is covered. Temporary weathering might be a tarpaulin and battened sheet, a rolled-back membrane or a sheeted tray, depending on the stage of the work. It is inspected as the crew packs up each evening, and again first thing if the forecast turns overnight. A tarpaulin that flaps in a Quantock wind is no weathering at all, so covers are battened down and weighted at the edges.
Is it safe for staff and customers underneath?
The work above is kept apart from the people below. That can mean protected walkways, a cordoned loading area or a covered route to the entrance, and we agree it with you before the scaffold goes up. Where the old covering is fibre cement and nobody knows its age, asbestos testing comes first, because disturbing it while people work underneath is exactly what the survey exists to prevent; see fibre-cement roof sheets.
Services under the roof, such as lighting, sprinklers and cable trays, are noted at the survey so the crew knows what sits just beneath the deck. Stock below an open bay is moved or sheeted before the first sheet comes off. Tell us about anything fragile, valuable or damp-sensitive, and it goes on the plan.
Hours, noise and deliveries
Some tasks are loud, some create dust and some block the yard. Cutting sheets, stripping old coverings and crane lifts are the heavy ones. We list the tasks by the disturbance they cause and plan the loud ones for the quiet times in your week.
Can work be done out of hours?
Early starts, evenings and weekends are options on many sites. Local noise rules, the neighbours, the lease and the building's own alarm and access arrangements decide what is allowed, so we ask you what is fixed. A food unit, a showroom and a warehouse have different quiet hours, and the plan follows yours.
Deliveries are timed for when the yard is clear, and the crane or hoist is placed so it does not block your customers' entrance or the loading bay. Waste leaves in sheeted loads. Should any of the old roof be asbestos cement, that waste moves on a consignment note and never goes in an ordinary skip, so the collection date is fixed with you in advance.
The paperwork that goes with a live site
A re-roof on a working site is a project under CDM 2015. When several contractors are involved, regulation 5 asks the client to put two appointments on paper, one for coordinating the design stage and one for running the site, and every project has a construction phase plan. On a live site that plan also covers the public, staff, vehicle routes and the fire exits.
What do we need from you?
Your opening hours, the quietest days, who to call on site, where staff park and which doors must stay clear. Tell us about any process that is sensitive to dust or vibration. Scaffold over the pavement calls for a scaffold licence from the highway authority, and the notice period is covered on our page about planning a commercial re-roof.
At the end of the survey you are sent pictures of the roof together with one written price, and the phasing is explained in plain words alongside both. If your insurer or landlord has conditions on out-of-hours work, share them early so the programme respects them from the first draft. For the services as a whole, see commercial roofing. To start, send your trading hours and a photo of the roof taken from the yard.
Staying open during a re-roof
Can you re-roof without disrupting our business?
Some disruption comes with any roof job, but it can be kept small. Phased sections, daily weathering, protected routes below and noisy tasks moved to quiet times all help. We agree the limits with you at the survey and tell you each morning what the crew will be doing.
Can work be planned around opening hours?
Yes. The programme is built around when you trade, with loud and dusty tasks moved to early mornings, evenings or weekends where the lease, the neighbours and local noise rules allow. Tell us the hours that matter most and the quiet tasks are placed in them.
The full picture: Commercial roofing in Taunton ยท More short answers