Earlier this year, Absolute Construction of Plano, Texas, was called to a home in Frisco, Texas, to put together an estimate for a customer looking to tear off 20-year-old concrete tiles and replace them with new concrete tiles. The original concrete tile system sustained hail damage and was never an airtight system. On more than one occasion, the homeowners had to deal with rodent issues.

Connor Wood, director of specialty roofing division at Absolute Construction, walked the homeowners through the daunting insurance claim process, making sure all paperwork was accurately completed and submitted. It turned out to be one of the larger residential roofing insurance claims he worked on.

The day Wood drove up to complete the deal, the homeowner had a change of heart. Earlier that morning, the homeowners were again greeted by a snake in their master bathroom that had gained access to the house through the roofing system. Wood assured them he could solve that problem by installing a metal roof. That was exactly what the homeowners wanted to hear, so they decided to go with a standing seam metal roofing system, formed onsite with coil from McElroy Metal’s Garland, Texas, location.

“That’s probably the last place you want to find a snake,” Wood said. “They decided that morning they were going to go with metal, a one-inch standing seam panel, to ensure a definite rodent-tight system. We assured them that would solve their snake issues.”

After critters like snakes entered the house through the aging concrete tile roof, the owners were relieved to hear a metal roof would solve their dilemma.

Metal Makeover

Absolute Construction installs a variety of roofing products, including metal. This job became one of Wood’s largest residential metal installs. The complex layout certainly makes it a signature project for the company that serves Louisiana, Kansas, Missouri and Oklahoma, in addition to the Lone Star State.

“The first thing that went through my mind when I pulled up was, ‘That’s a lotta roof,’” Wood says. “I knew immediately this was an amazing opportunity for us. These projects don’t come along every day.”

What stands out in aerial photographs of the roof are the more than 50 planes of roofing, creating dozens of valleys. That meant hundreds of precise cuts onsite for the Absolute Construction crew. 

Before the installation, Absolute Construction had to deal with getting rid of the original concrete tiles. Wood estimates it was 25 dump trucks full of tiles and a cost of somewhere between $5,000 and $6,000. 

The roof deck was in good shape. Absolute Construction installed Titanium UDL synthetic underlayment and GAF’s StormGuard Film-Surfaced Leak Barrier around the eaves. 

The home now has a modernized look thanks to the metal roof, styled in Matte Black.

The homeowners are in the process of “modernizing” the look of the home’s exterior and interior. To achieve the aesthetic they were looking for on the exterior, they decided on Matte Black for the roof color, a Sherwin-Williams Fluropon PVDF color. Absolute Construction installed 19,000 square feet of 24-gauge Galvalume 1-inch-high standing seam panels. The panels are 19-1/2 inches wide, produced on a portable roll former from Englert Inc.

“The biggest challenge was access,” Wood says. “It’s one of the things you may not think about right away, but it’s a factor in giving an accurate estimate. Once you get inside the gate at this home, you’re driving on a 75-yard brick driveway. We’ve got trucks weighing about 15,000 pounds so we had to be very careful.”

Crew members had to be careful setting up scaffolding in landscaped areas and moving equipment around. Everything went according to plan.

“The homeowners are super excited,” Wood says. “We estimated we’d be onsite for eight weeks and we completed the job in six, so they were happy about that.”

And how did Wood feel when the job was completed?

“Relieved,” he admits. “It’s one of those jobs where if something goes wrong, it could end up being a costly mistake. It’s definitely a job we can all look back on and be proud of. A significant key to this job going off without a hitch was amazing teamwork. Everyone in our office made sure everything went smoothly. It is a great feeling to be a part of such a great team.” 

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