Metal roof installers work through challenging specs
A Utah-based roofing company completed a project for a condominium complex in Park City, Utah.
Several years ago, the homeowners association board elected to go with a corrugated metal roof due to leakage problems with the original roof. However, the new roof brought more problems than the original, officials with the roofing company hired to fix the problem said.
“In the five years they had that corrugated roof, they had more trouble with leaks than they did in 20 years with the shake roof,” said Jeremy Russell of On Top Roofing. “It was a bad install by a company no longer in business. So they hired a consultant who insisted that all details be installed to specification. That’s what we do.”
First, the consultant and the board had to be resold on metal roofing for the condo complex. The 5-year-old metal roof was installed with exposed fasteners, was rusting in flashing areas and leaking in the laps when snow built up on the roof. With a strict specification from the consultant and a watertight warranty from Drexel Metals to back up the work, a standing-seam metal roof installed by On Top Roofing was selected over asphalt shingles.
“One of the requirements was we had to inject the seams with butyl,” Russell said. “So we purchased a Hot Melt (Technologies) system.”
Although it was a big investment, Russell said the amount of support and recognition they received made it all worth it in the end.
“We received plenty of support from Drexel, putting everything together to meet the requirements of the consultant,” he said. “We worked out all the details to spec and added some of our own that were above spec.”
One requirement was to use no exposed fasteners, which meant installing stainless steel material in many of the details — skylights, chimneys, roof to wall flashings.
“We etched it, primed it and painted it with automotive paint to match,” Russell said. “It took more time, but it will not leak.”
More than 33,500 square feet of 22-gauge Galvalume 1 ¾-inch snap-lock standing-seam panels — all formed on-site — were installed by Russell’s crew. The roofing panels, roll-formed on one of On Top Roofing’s two new tech machinery roll formers, were painted in a bronze.
The project took about eight months to complete. On Top Roofing wrapped up in November 2014.
“We issued the warranty in December 2014,” said Frank Oswald, warranty inspector for Drexel Metals. “I’d say Jeremy went above and beyond what a typical installer would have done on this project. I was at this site on three different occasions because this project was really under a microscope. Ultimately, we’re quite satisfied with the work and the install.”
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