The community of Winchester, Ind., was in desperate need of a new roof for its aging high school. Teachers and students were coexisting in an interior environment that was wet, humid and had a repulsive smell. The school board met with a number of people, including a conventional roof trade association and an architectural firm that specialized particularly in flat roof work.
In January 2008, they elected to go with another flat roof on the high school.
However, the community was split over whether to use another flat asphalt roof or to use a sloped standing seam metal roof. In March 2008, Metal Roof Consultants attended a school board meeting and presented a sloped metal retrofit roof as an alternative to tearing off the existing roof and replacing it with another flat roof. The retrofit metal roofing system allows the existing roof to stay in place and constructing a new roofing system over the top of it.
The challenge
To provide a long-lasting roof that would permanently fix severe leakage issues associated with the existing flat roof on Winchester High School.
The solution
After the presentation by Metal Roof Consultants, it was decided that a retrofit metal roof system would be the best solution for the existing problem. MBCI, the leading manufacturer of metal roof and wall systems, was approved as the supplier for both the framing system and metal roof system for the 108,000-sf project. Smarrelli Construction was chosen to do the installation. The contract price was approximately $1.6 million, slightly less than the original estimate to remove and replace the existing flat roof.
The MBCI NuRoof Retrofit Roof System was installed over the existing roof’s framing members to create a sloped plane. Six inches of unfaced fiberglass insulation were installed directly over the existing roof. This raised the insulating value of the roof from R-3.5 to R-22.5, which provided significant energy savings. It also allowed the existing roof to release its moisture through the glass insulation into the ventilated air in the new roof cavitty.
Once the framing system was in place, a BattenLok HS standing seam metal roof was installed over it. This option allowed school to stay in session while the new roof was installed. The metal roof was an Energy Star qualified Cool Roof color, which, when properly used considering the environment and the slope of the roof, can reduce energy consumption because of its ability to reflect and emit the sun’s energy, providing significant cost savings.
Additionally, this solution eliminated the need to deposit the existing roof into the local landfill, which recent statics show that 7 to 10% of U.S. landfill space has gone to roofing waste over the last 40 years (ADPSR 1998-2007 Corps of Engineers Study). Metal roofing also allows for little to no maintenance. The contract price was $1.6 million, less than the original estimate to remove and replace the existing flat roof. MBCI also guarantees that the roof will not leak for a minimum of 20 years.
The retrofit system
The NuRoof Retrofit Framing System utilizes light-gauge (16 ga. to 12 ga.) steel framing, which is installed directly over the existing roof’s framing members to create a sloped plane. Regardless of whether your roof substrate is steel, wood or concrete, MBCI’s NuRoof system can be employed to satisfy the building owner’s requirements. MBCI has the experience required to design the retrofit framing system that will comply with the original load requirements of the existing roof.
The existing roof’s physical footprint, framing system and other rooftop conditions will most likely control the new roof’s geometry. A low-slope application (¼:12 to 2:12) is typically driven by economy and designed to discharge rainwater from the roof. High-slope applications (greater than 2:12) are also designed to improve and update the look of an existing building in conjunction with improving the performance of the roof.
Once a NuRoof framing system has been installed, one of MBCI’s standing seam metal roofs is typically installed, creating a ventilated attic space.
Standing seam metal roof systems
MBCI offers two types of standing seam metal roof systems--vertical leg and trapezoidal--which are of the most durable and weathertight roof systems available in the industry. Both systems can be used for new construction or retrofitting an existing building.
The vertical leg standing seam roof panels from MBCI blend the aesthetics of an architectural panel with the strength of a structural panel. These panels have earned several UL uplift ratings, assuring the reliability of performance. They also provide flexibility to meet design challenges. Each of these systems is designed to be installed over open framing. BattenLok HS is a vertical leg system.
Trapezoidal standing seam panels are available as a snap-together system or field-seamed system. They allow for strength, durability and weatherability. The standing seams are three inches above the lowest part of the panel, well above the water level as it flows off the roof. With a recommended minimum slope of ¼:12, the trapezoidal systems can be used on all types of construction, including metal, masonry or wood. +
Related Stories
| Nov 3, 2010
Senior housing will be affordable, sustainable
Horizons at Morgan Hill, a 49-unit affordable senior housing community in Morgan Hill, Calif., was designed by KTGY Group and developed by Urban Housing Communities. The $21.2 million, three-story building will offer 36 one-bed/bath units (773 sf) and 13 two-bed/bath units (1,025 sf) on a 2.6-acre site.
| Nov 3, 2010
Designs complete for new elementary school
SchenkelShultz has completed design of the new 101,270-sf elementary Highlands Elementary School, as well as designs for three existing buildings that will be renovated, in Kissimmee, Fla. The school will provide 48 classrooms for 920 students, a cafeteria, a media center, and a music/art suite with outdoor patio. Three facilities scheduled for renovations total 19,459 sf and include an eight-classroom building that will be used as an exceptional student education center, a older media center that will be used as a multipurpose building, and another building that will be reworked as a parent center, with two meeting rooms for community use. W.G. Mills/Ranger is serving as CM for the $15.1 million project.
| Nov 3, 2010
Chengdu retail center offers a blend of old and new China
The first phase of Pearl River New Town, an 80-acre project in Chengdu, in China’s Wenjiang District, is under way along the banks of the Jiang’an River. Chengdu was at one time a leading center for broadcloth production, and RTKL, which is overseeing the project’s master planning, architecture, branding, and landscape architecture, designed the project’s streets, pedestrian pathways, and bridges to resemble a woven fabric.
| Nov 3, 2010
Rotating atriums give Riyadh’s first Hilton an unusual twist
Goettsch Partners, in collaboration with Omrania & Associates (architect of record) and David Wrenn Interiors (interior designer), is serving as design architect for the five-star, 900-key Hilton Riyadh.
| Nov 3, 2010
Virginia biofuel research center moving along
The Sustainable Energy Technology Center has broken ground in October on the Danville, Va., campus of the Institute for Advanced Learning and Research. The 25,000-sf facility will be used to develop enhanced bio-based fuels, and will house research laboratories, support labs, graduate student research space, and faculty offices. Rainwater harvesting, a vegetated roof, low-VOC and recycled materials, photovoltaic panels, high-efficiency plumbing fixtures and water-saving systems, and LED light fixtures will be deployed. Dewberry served as lead architect, with Lord Aeck & Sargent serving as laboratory designer and sustainability consultant. Perigon Engineering consulted on high-bay process labs. New Atlantic Contracting is building the facility.
| Nov 3, 2010
Dining center cooks up LEED Platinum rating
Students at Bowling Green State University in Ohio will be eating in a new LEED Platinum multiuse dining center next fall. The 30,000-sf McDonald Dining Center will have a 700-seat main dining room, a quick-service restaurant, retail space, and multiple areas for students to gather inside and out, including a fire pit and several patios—one of them on the rooftop.
| Nov 2, 2010
11 Tips for Breathing New Life into Old Office Spaces
A slowdown in new construction has firms focusing on office reconstruction and interior renovations. Three experts from Hixson Architecture Engineering Interiors offer 11 tips for office renovation success. Tip #1: Check the landscaping.
| Nov 2, 2010
Cypress Siding Helps Nature Center Look its Part
The Trinity River Audubon Center, which sits within a 6,000-acre forest just outside Dallas, utilizes sustainable materials that help the $12.5 million nature center fit its wooded setting and put it on a path to earning LEED Gold.
| Nov 2, 2010
A Look Back at the Navy’s First LEED Gold
Building Design+Construction takes a retrospective tour of a pace-setting LEED project.
| Nov 2, 2010
Wind Power, Windy City-style
Building-integrated wind turbines lend a futuristic look to a parking structure in Chicago’s trendy River North neighborhood. Only time will tell how much power the wind devices will generate.
