Roofing Over Operating Rooms and Inpatient Care in Ann Arbor
Michigan Medicine's campus off Fuller Road and East Medical Center Drive is one of the largest concentrations of inpatient and surgical roof area in the region, and none of it can go offline for a reroof. University Hospital, C.S. Mott Children's Hospital, and Von Voigtlander Women's Hospital sit on interconnected roof systems above departments that run around the clock, and a roof failure over an operating suite or an intensive care unit is not a maintenance inconvenience, it's a clinical problem. We approach hospital roofing as continuous-operations work first and a membrane project second.
Michigan Medicine's Campus of Roofs
The hospital campus isn't one building with one roof, it's a connected complex of towers, additions, and mechanical penthouses built across different decades, each with its own roof system and its own history of patches and recovers. Some sections carry ballasted EPDM, others fully adhered TPO or PVC over newer additions, and older sections still have modified bitumen or built-up roofing under a coating. Before we recommend anything, we map which system covers which department below, because a leak over a mechanical corridor is an inconvenience and a leak over an OR suite or a NICU is an entirely different order of problem.
That mapping also tells us where redundant drainage actually matters most. Roof areas over critical care space get a second look at scupper and drain capacity beyond code minimums, because a clogged primary drain during a spring thaw shouldn't be the thing standing between dry ceiling tile and a flooded corridor above a patient floor.
Continuous Operations, No Shutdowns
A hospital roof project runs on the hospital's schedule, not the contractor's. Surgical schedules, infection control protocols, and life-safety systems all constrain what we can do and when, and that starts with how we stage material and equipment. We plan crane lifts and rooftop access around surgical block schedules and avoid vibration-heavy work near sensitive spaces during active procedures, coordinating directly with hospital facilities and infection prevention staff rather than assuming a standard construction sequence will work.
Every phase gets closed out watertight before the crew leaves for the day. On an occupied hospital roof, there is no acceptable version of "we'll finish sealing that tomorrow" if rain is forecast overnight, because the ceiling below might be a patient room, a pharmacy, or a sterile processing department.
Air Handling and Infection Control Above the Ceiling
Hospital roofs carry a dense field of rooftop air handling units, exhaust fans, and isolation-room equipment, much of it tied to negative or positive pressure systems that maintain infection control below. Cutting or disturbing the wrong curb flashing, even briefly, can affect pressure relationships in a way that matters clinically. We identify which rooftop units serve which pressure-controlled spaces before we touch anything near them, and we sequence flashing work around those units instead of shutting them down on our own schedule.
- Redundant drain and scupper capacity over critical care and OR zones
- Curb flashing sequenced around pressure-controlled air handling units
- Phased dry-in that closes watertight before every shift ends
- Vibration-sensitive scheduling around active surgical blocks
- Coordination with infection prevention on containment and dust control
- Documentation built for health-system capital planning and warranty records
Ambulatory Surgery Centers Away from the Main Campus
Not every surgical roof in this market sits on the main hospital campus. Ambulatory surgery centers and outpatient procedure buildings around Domino's Farms, along Washtenaw Avenue, and near the Briarwood area carry their own smaller-scale version of the same problem: an occupied procedure space below a roof that can't leak. These buildings are usually simpler structurally, often a single-story or low-rise footprint with a more compact mechanical load, but the operational stakes above each square foot of roof are the same. We apply the same phased, watertight-daily approach whether the roof is a hundred thousand square feet or a fraction of that.
Because these standalone centers are frequently leased space inside a larger medical office building, we also coordinate scope and access with property management alongside the health system operating the surgical suite, since the roof, the building shell, and the tenant improvement all answer to different parties.
Freeze-Thaw Over Occupied Critical Space
Southeast Michigan's freeze-thaw cycle is hard on any low-slope roof, but over a hospital it raises the stakes on every detail. Ice damming at parapet walls and mechanical curbs, ponding near clogged drains during a January thaw, and membrane fatigue at penetration points all show up as ceiling stains in a patient corridor before they show up as a maintenance ticket. We inspect penetration density and drainage capacity with that failure mode specifically in mind, because a slow leak that would be a nuisance over a warehouse is a documented incident over a hospital floor.
Questions Hospital Facilities Teams Ask
How do you keep a roof project from disrupting surgical schedules?
We coordinate crane lifts, vibration-heavy work, and access timing directly with hospital facilities around active surgical blocks, and we avoid disturbing curb flashing near pressure-controlled spaces without first confirming which units serve which rooms below.
What happens if weather moves in mid-phase?
Every phase is sized to close out fully watertight before the crew leaves for the day. We don't leave an open section over occupied hospital space overnight regardless of forecast, because the risk tolerance over a patient floor is different from a typical commercial building.
Do you work on smaller ambulatory surgery centers, not only the main hospital campus?
Yes. Ambulatory centers around Domino's Farms and along Washtenaw Avenue get the same phased, watertight-daily approach as the main hospital campus, scaled to the building, and we coordinate with property management where the roof sits inside a larger medical office building.
How do you handle infection control requirements during the work?
We coordinate containment, dust control, and any air handling shutdowns directly with the hospital's infection prevention staff before work begins near sensitive departments, and we sequence around their protocols rather than a generic construction schedule.
How does drainage differ on a hospital roof versus a typical commercial building?
We look beyond code-minimum drain counts over critical care and OR zones and add redundant capacity where a clogged primary drain during a spring thaw would otherwise put water over occupied clinical space.