The warehouse roof is leaking onto stock: what to do first
Somebody on the floor has just spotted water coming down onto the racking. What you do in the next hour decides how much stock you lose and how straightforward the claim is. Here is the order to do things in.
1. Make the area safe
Water on a concrete slab is a slip hazard for people and a braking hazard for forklifts. Cone off the wet area and stop vehicle traffic through it. If water is running near lighting, electrical distribution or charging points for trucks, get that circuit isolated before anyone works underneath it. Wet pallets and cardboard lose strength fast, so be careful about sending anyone up to a high bay that has taken on water.
2. Protect the stock
Move what you can from the bays directly under the drip and the bays either side of them, since water runs along beams and drops further along than you would expect. Sheet over what you cannot move, and put down a tray, a bin or a drip sheet to catch the water. Write down which locations were affected; the warehouse management system will want to know, and so will the insurer.
3. Rain or pipe?
This is the question that sends you to the right people, so settle it early.
| Pattern | Most likely | What to do now |
|---|---|---|
| Started during or just after heavy rain, stops when it dries up | A rooflight, fixing, valley gutter or roof junction | Check gutters and outlets are clear if it is safe to reach them; call your roofer or ADI to locate it |
| Carries on in dry weather, day and night | A pressurised pipe running along the steel: a heating run, a feed to machinery or a supply to the welfare block | Look at what runs above the drip and isolate it if you can; check boiler pressure and the water meter |
| Only when a particular piece of plant or a washroom is in use | A waste pipe, a condensate line or a supply that leaks only under flow | Take that equipment or washroom out of use and see if the drip stops |
| Appears in the same place after every cold night | Condensation dripping off the roof sheets | Mention it when you call; not every drip is a leak, and a survey will say so |
4. The drip is not the leak
On a big roof, water rarely falls where it gets in. It runs along the underside of the sheets, down purlins and along the steel before it drops, so the defect can be several metres, or several bays, away from the wet pallet. Patching the roof directly above the drip is the most common way to pay for a repair that does not work. Moisture mapping and thermal imaging from inside show where the water is actually arriving. On the roof itself, a thermal-imaging drone can survey a large area without scaffolding, and tracer gas or an electronic roof leak detector pinpoints the defect on a flat roof. How ADI investigates roof leaks.
5. Record it for the insurer and the landlord
Photograph the drip, the wet stock, the racking locations and the roof above them, with the date and time. Note when it was spotted, what the weather was doing and what you moved. If you lease the building, tell the landlord or managing agent the same day: most leases put the roof on one side or the other, and they will want to know before anyone starts work. Insurers deal with finding the source as trace and access, and a clear timeline makes that conversation easier.
6. Check the pipes as well as the roof
A drip that carries on in dry weather is worth a look at the plant. If the boiler or pressurisation unit has needed topping up more than usual, or the water meter turns when the site is shut, say so when you call. That points the survey at the pipework rather than the roof.
What not to do
- Do not put stock back under the drip because it has stopped. Dry is not fixed, and the next downpour will find it.
- Do not send someone onto a fragile roof to look for the hole. Rooflights and old sheets will not take a person's weight.
- Do not let a contractor start cutting or patching before the source is found and the insurer or landlord has said what they need.
When to call
If the drip carries on after the rain stops, if more than one area is affected, if you cannot tell whether it is the roof or a pipe, or if an insurer or landlord is involved, call. Have the locations, the pattern you saw and the photographs ready.