A 45-minute drive from Kansas City’s urban center, the friendly, relaxed town of Plattsburg, Mo. is home to just over 2,300 people. Plattsburg High School, one of three public schools in the Clinton County R-3 school district, is the pride of this county seat town.

Accredited with distinction, Clinton County R-3 is two years into a six-year comprehensive improvement plan, which includes a goal to provide safe, functional facilities for all students. The school district decided to update the high school roof and made plans for a summer installation to avoid disrupting classes or compromising school safety.

The architect hired by Clinton County R-3 released a public specification for a cold process, two-ply SBS-modified roof system to recover the existing roof. Triad Inc., a residential and commercial roofing contractor serving Missouri, Colorado, Kansas, and Nebraska since 2011, responded to the specification with a key modification: they recommended a self-adhered SBS-modified roof system instead of a cold-process-applied SBS-modified roof system.

“We could have bid the project as specified with CertainTeed SBS-modified products engineered to install with FlintBond® Brush,” explained Dwayne Smirl, Commercial Manager at Triad. “However, we thought the reduced cost, labor efficiency, and safety benefits of a Flintlastic SA self-adhered SBS-modified bitumen roof system would be advantageous for the school district. Plus, the products are reliably in stock and we knew they would be available when we needed them.”

Triad was awarded the bid and their adjustment to the specification was accepted. As luck would have it, the roof installation was delayed due to insulation adhesive material shortages, and a summer install was no longer an option.

“It was very fortunate that we chose Flintlastic SA,” said Smirl. “It installs without the use of asphalt kettles, torches, or malodorous adhesives, so even though school was in session during application, students and faculty were not disturbed.”

By switching the specification to self-adhered, Triad not only enabled the roof to be installed safely at an active high school, but they also eliminated both the material and labor cost associated with cold membrane adhesive with little impact to actual SBS membrane cost. In the end, both Triad and the Clinton County R-3 school district were pleased with the streamlined installation process and reliable protection of the Flintlastic SA self-adhered SBS-modified bitumen roof system.

“Flintlastic SA is a cleaner, easier to use system,” Smirl said. “We installed this job while school was in session, safely, efficiently, and without material shortages or delays. At one point we were even training crew members on the roof while they were installing. The system is that easy to understand and quickly master.”

Content contributed by SmartThink, on behalf of CertainTeed.