Winter Storm Uri in February 2021 exposed freeze damage in every commercial roof assembly above 30 years old in Fort Worth. Some of that damage is still showing up years later as slow leaks from cracked drain bowls and seams that opened under thermal shock. We identify it and scope the repair.

Winter Storm Uri hit Fort Worth on February 10-16, 2021 with sustained below-zero wind chills and temperatures that dropped to 2°F at DFW Airport — the coldest reading in more than 30 years. The roofing impact was twofold: immediate damage from freeze-thaw cycling that ran through 4-5 complete cycles during the storm (freezing at night, partial thaw during the day, refreezing), and delayed damage that didn't fully manifest until the subsequent summer's thermal cycling opened seams that Uri had stressed but not immediately separated.

The commercial roofs most damaged by Uri were the older inventory — built-up roofs from the 1970s and 1980s, modified bitumen systems from the 1990s, and the first-generation EPDM installations from the late 1990s through mid-2000s that had been through 15-20 North Texas freeze-thaw seasons by the time Uri arrived. The membrane adhesives, seam bonds, and flashing materials in that vintage of roof weren't formulated for the temperature extreme that Uri produced. TPO installed after 2010 held better — seam welds are more resilient than adhesive bonds under freeze-thaw.

We are still finding Uri-related damage on Fort Worth commercial buildings that haven't had a formal post-Uri inspection. If your building had the same roof in 2021 that it has today and you haven't had it inspected since the storm, you may have slow drain failures, stressed seams, or parapet flashing gaps that have been admitting water in small volumes for three-plus years.

Freeze Damage Patterns We Find on Fort Worth Commercial Roofs

Drain bowl cracking is the most common and most consequential freeze damage we find post-Uri. Cast-iron drain bowls that hold residual water freeze solid when temperatures drop to single digits — the ice expansion cracks the bowl horizontally at the water line. The crack may be hairline and not cause a visible interior drip immediately, but it allows water to migrate under the drain ring and into the insulation assembly below. We probe-test the drain area on every post-Uri inspection because cracked bowls almost always have wet insulation within a 3-4 foot radius.

Parapet thermal shock is the second most common Uri-related damage. Masonry parapets on Fort Worth commercial buildings expand and contract with temperature change. Uri's rapid temperature cycling (15-20°F swings within 12-hour periods during the storm) drove expansion and contraction at rates the parapet-to-flashing interface wasn't designed for. The result is parapet cap flashing separation, through-wall crack propagation at mortar joints, and in some cases, interior parapet face spalling that isn't visible from the roof surface. We probe-test parapet flashings and inspect the interior parapet face on every freeze-damage walk.

Seam stress and adhesion failure under freeze-thaw affects older adhered EPDM and modified bitumen systems more than TPO. The adhesive bond that holds adhered membranes to insulation board loses elasticity at temperatures below 20°F — it becomes brittle and can separate under the thermal contraction load. Seams in these systems opened under Uri in patterns that show up as the building heats and cools through subsequent seasons. We seam-probe every lap in the Uri-damaged zones.

Freeze Damage Repair Scope

Drain bowl replacement is a contained repair that typically takes a half-day per drain — we remove the clamping ring and existing bowl, inspect the deck at the drain penetration, install a new cast-iron or HDPE drain bowl with a new clamping ring gasket, and flash the new bowl to the existing membrane per the manufacturer's detail. If the insulation within a 3-foot radius is wet, we replace that insulation as part of the drain replacement rather than letting it sit under the new installation.

Parapet flashing repair after freeze damage involves re-sealing or replacing the parapet cap flashing, addressing any masonry crack-fill at the parapet face, and reinstalling through-wall flashing at the deck-to-parapet intersection where the separation occurred. We specify elastomeric caulk at movement joints — silicone or polyurethane — rather than asphalt caulk, which re-cracks under the same thermal load that caused the original failure.

Hasn't been inspected since Uri? Let's find out what's there.

We walk the roof, probe every drain, test seams, and inspect parapet flashings — then give you a written condition report. Call 817-398-5307 or submit below.