Waxahachie, Texas, city officials had to address roof and water damage to a local community center that experienced a drop in popularity after more than 70 leaks.

Duncanville, Texas-based roofing consulting firm ECI Inc. was called to look into issue.       

“The clincher came during a wedding,” said Brad Tolson, project manager for ECI. “There was a rainstorm and water leaked in and ruined the wedding cake.”

After discovering the original barrel roofing on the community building was improperly installed, ECI recommended installing metal roofing on top of the old system — specifically, a symmetrical metal roofing system from McElroy Metal.

“This is a building the city of Waxahachie is not going to sell anytime soon and we felt it was necessary to go with the Cadillac of roofing systems,” Tolson said. “Installing metal over the top was the easiest and most efficient method of solving the problems. It’s going to last 50 years. Aesthetically, it looks great.”

Haslet, Texas-based BRI Roofing installed the barrel roofs. The larger main barrel roof section was updated with McElroy Metal’s 238T panel, a 2 3/8-inch-high, two-piece, mechanically seamed symmetrical metal panel. The smaller barrel roof sections were topped with the company’s 138T panel.

The panels — which were more than 115 feet long — were roll-formed right onto the building’s roof using McElroy Metal’s Archzilla roll-forming lift, to ensure safe handling and placement of the new roofing.

“We’re in Texas, so we get wind,” said Jake Miller, vice president of production at BRI Roofing. “There were days it was too windy to carry those panels around on the roof. It’s not safe for the workers and the panels can get damaged in the wind.”

 Backer rods were also added to the substrate under each roof panel to alleviate the appearance of oil canning on the barrel roofing. The result was a properly installed and aesthetically pleasing — and leak-free — metal roof.