Commercial Roof Waterproofing in Newry — GacoFlex S42 Silicone Roof Coating

Newry sits on the Clanrye, or Newry River, which forms the historic border between Armagh and Down before running into Carlingford Lough near Warrenpoint. Warrenpoint Port, a Trust Port on a 60-acre site at the head of the lough, is Northern Ireland’s third-largest port by tonnage and acts as Newry’s commercial port. Invest NI identifies agri-food as one of Newry, Mourne and Down’s strongest sectors, with firms such as Deli Lites and Finnebrogue investing in the district. Food production and distribution mean big roofs that have to stay watertight. Many of those buildings sit on industrial estates around the city and along the road to Warrenpoint.

The Met Office’s Katesbridge station, the long-term reference for County Down, averaged 910 mm of rain a year over 1991–2020 on about 159 days of 1 mm or more. That is moderate, but sites around the lough and in the valley between the Mournes and the Ring of Gullion see plenty of wet weather, and food and logistics buildings cannot tolerate leaks. Ponding on flat sections, cracked felt and corroded metal laps are the usual failure points. Food premises also run strict hygiene regimes, so any leak over a production or packing area is a serious problem.

GacoFlex S42 silicone goes over the prepared existing roof as a single seamless membrane formulated for ponding water, with SF42 — the fibre-reinforced grade — used where details and laps need extra reinforcement. The building can generally stay in use while the approved installer works above, subject to their risk assessment. The two-coat S42 system carries a 20-year manufacturer-backed product warranty. Asbestos cement roofs take Gaco’s urethane coatings instead, and the island-of-Ireland reference for that work is SAICA’s site at Warrenpoint, Co. Down. Duratite supplies the Gaco materials and connects Newry businesses with an approved installer. Adhesion tests, repairs to seams and flashings, and clearing of outlets come before coating.

Newry comes under Northern Ireland’s building regulations. Newry, Mourne and Down District Council’s Building Control service is the authority, and the Building Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2012 with Technical Booklet F2 govern energy performance where insulation forms part of the roof works. HSENI regulates work at height and, for older roofs, the Control of Asbestos Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2012. Sites a short drive south in County Louth fall under the Republic’s TGD L 2022 and the Health and Safety Authority instead. Because Gaco silicone is applied cold, the job needs no open flame above a food site.

Agri-food businesses in Newry, Mourne and Down run production and packing areas where hygiene rules are strict, and roof work above them has to respect those rules. Before any survey, it is worth talking to the site's technical or hygiene manager about what the roof covers: chilled stores, packing halls, ingredient warehouses or offices. That shapes how the installer protects the space below, when areas can be worked above, and what cleaning and sign-off is required afterwards. Collect a roof plan, records of past repairs, and a log of leaks with dates and locations, noting whether water ever reached a production area. Photos of ponding after rain and of rust around fixings or rooflights help too. Because many of these sites work long hours, find out when the busiest production periods fall so the programme avoids them. Businesses near Warrenpoint Port, at the head of Carlingford Lough, face another consideration: exposure to wind across the water, which affects when materials can be lifted and how they are secured on the roof. The SAICA Pack project at Warrenpoint, covering three industrial units, is a local example of large roofs being planned unit by unit. For cross-border groups with sites on both sides, confirm which building control authority applies to each address, which for Newry is Newry, Mourne and Down District Council. Duratite supplies the Gaco silicone and introduces an approved installer, who agrees the programme with the site team.