Installing Metal Roofs: A mistake
Call 610-941-1051: Talk about your roof
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A New Metal Roof Installation
In Fayetteville, NC, the new metal roof over the Transportation Museum caused
enough consternation that the local paper wrote an extensive article about the
controversy.
Originally, the museum was a 1890 train depot, a building listed on the National Register
of Historic Places. A $4 million renovation project has been underway. As the
project comes to a close, all the participants agreed on one conclusion.
The new roof does not look like the original roof...and furthermore, does not look like the
contract designs.
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What Happen During the Installation?
In projects, such as this, a city manager is in charge of the project,
an architect develops the documents, a general contractor oversees/does
the work and a roofing subcontractor installs the roof itself. Somewhere in this arrangement, communication faltered
between these key players in the restoration project.
The problem focused on the roof ridges. "The ridge is too
big," said one observer. Instead of 3-inch-wide capping, the new
capping is 17 inches wide.
Tin Roof Restoration--not Replacement
In a metal roof restoration project, not a roof replacement, one might think
the above confusion could not happen. The roof restoration work, the panel
profile remains the same...so how can mixups occur? Wrong....Miscommunication can and
does occur.
In my trade niche of roof restoration, the miscommunication usually
centers on 1) the degree of improvement in the panels' appearance and 2) the
choice of color. Firstly, any prospective customer wants to know what the
roof will look like. To answer this question, I offer three alternatives:
Photos--lots of them
Addresses of nearby projects
A demo area on the prospective
customer's roof.
Secondly, the selection of tint for the acrylic increases in importance after
the project's completion. After the restoration project invoice is paid, rust
is contained and leaks are forgotten, then the color of an extremely visible
metal roof moves to the forefront. To encourage the comfort zone for a
color choice, I usually present a large demo card of the prospective tint.
Who's to Blame
Back in Fayetteville, the principals in the train depot restoration will have
to sort out if the roof will remain and who will pay for it. One
individual lamented, " ...we have a perfectly good roof up there....they
want to tear it up and start over." Whatever the outcome, the
appearance of the project has proven to be extremely important.
(Update 3-1-05: City officials confirmed that the new roof will be
removed and replaced with a more historically accurate version, costing between
$60,000 and $75,000. This decision was acceptable, partially due to
the renovation's under budget costs thus far. Also, the city officials
have been careful to avoid blaming any one individual, saying that the
resolution has been a cooperative endeavor.)
In summary, be as clear as possible about the appearance of the final work, whether
the project is restoring an existing metal surface or installing a new metal
roof.
610-941-1051
Roof Menders, Inc
316 West 6th Ave.
Conshohocken, PA 19428
(In PA, R.Menders Inc at 610-941-1052)