Metal RoofingRoofing Project Profiles

Onsite Fabrication: New Metal Roof Created and Installed at Greers Ferry High School

A unique and challenging roofing problem on a large school in Arkansas called for a permanent solution. Freedom Roofing Solutions of Vilonia, Ark., formed and curved Drexel Metals roof panels onsite.

“It was a fun one,” said Brian Kirk, who co-owns Freedom Roofing with his cousin, Keith Williams. “We took off the existing roof and installed a metal roof.”

But it wasn’t quite that simple. The original roof on West Side High School in Greers Ferry, Ark., was comprised of asphalt shingles on a barrel-vaulted section and modified bitumen on some low-slope side roofs. During an attempt to economically patch leaking, “the school allowed someone to spray the roof with some kind of foam product,” Kirk explained. “It looked pretty bad.”

Once the original roof was removed, Freedom Roofing added some structural framing to the low-slope side roofs to create enough slope(up to 1-1/2:12) for the new roof to more effectively shed snow and rain. Before the metal roofing was formed and installed, the crew installed a high-temperature underlayment.

Freedom Roofing Solutions, a Drexel Metals Association of Regional Manufacturers member (DM-ARM), owns a certified Drexel Metals rollformer. After the panels for the barrel roof were manufactured, Freedom ran them through a curver, which was rented from Drexel Metals. Kirk said they built a “cradle” for the rollformer so it could be lifted to the eaves. From there, crews could run full-length panels with no laps all the way to the gymnasium, which was the barrel-vault section.

For the West Side High School project, 24-gauge Galvalume coil from Drexel Metals was formed to Drexel Metals’ DMC 200S profile, with 18-inch striated pans with hot butyl sealant applied during forming.

“We always manufacture panels with striations,” Kirk said. “Striations help mitigate the appearance of oil canning. We run the panels with pencil ribs, and we’ve never had any problems with oil canning.”

Some panels measured up to 50 feet long. The entire project was approximately 26,000 square feet.

“Metal roofing was a great fit for this project,” said Craig Boone, AIA, of Architecture Plus Inc. in Fort Smith, Ark. “The barrel-vault roof over the gym with the two side sections…those panels on the barrel were curved onsite and laid down perfectly on the structure. From there, metal worked as a great transition to the two sloped side roofs. We were able to match the school colors and provide a leak-free roofing system.”

Boone noted that within the first month of installation, that area of Arkansas received 20 inches of rain. “If it was going to leak, I think someone would have let us know by now,” he said.

For more information, visit www.drexelmetals.com.