What is the traditional Roof / Waterproofing Guarantee in the market place?

General Guarantee Inclusions:-

• Long-term Product / Material Guarantees on the main roof and waterproofing items that make up the system, up to 20 years – Issued by the manufacturer or supplier.
• 1 or 2 Year Workmanship Warranty – Issued by the installer or application contractor.

The manufacturer or supplier of the roof or waterproofing system MAY inspect the installation at the end of the project and comment on the accuracy and quality of the installation. However this cannot guarantee the roof or waterproofing systems long term performance as it is a comment on what can be seen at the end of an installed project and not during its construction.

General Guarantee Exclusions:-

• Long term performance of the perimeter and junction point details – This is generally left to contractor design but the contractor normally only provides a 1 – 2 year warranty.
• Thermal & Acoustic performance.
• Recorded maintenance and roof / waterproofing service plan.
• Junction points between different roofing / waterproofing systems i.e. a junction between a metal pitched and a waterproofed flat roof.

In many cases when looking carefully at the product or material guarantee, you will find that the guarantee is simply stating that IF maintained, the suppliers will guarantee that the material will not become perforated through corrosion, with no specific comment regarding the all important perimeter or junction details or flashings.

Important Note: If the roof system is not official recorded as being regularly maintained, then the material suppliers of the metal roofing or waterproofing systems, state clearly that there guarantees are invalidated.

(The traditional guarantee does NOT cover perimeter details or maintenance and ONLY a short term workmanship or installation period)

Any roof or cladding system is only as good as its design, perimeter detailing, installation & maintenance. The mostly likely cause of a roof leaking or complete failure is poor quality installation, omission of essential elements or inadequate perimeter design.

Important Note regarding Perimeter Detail: In most cases the perimeter flashings shown in manufacturers technical guides, show the principle of how the detail should be constructed, the size of the flashing details needs to be determined by project location, roof pitch and the specified roof system. In many cases the size or girth of the flashing is determined by the contractor based on commercial reasons rather than technical i.e. how many flashings can be manufactured out of one flat sheet, thereby saving money.

Please check our guide on how to construct perimeter details correctly.