Converting a roof designed and framed as flat into a tapered surface proved to be a very educational experience on a recent project in New Mexico. The Pueblo Pintado Day School, a new K-12 community school on a Navajo reservation near Albuquerque, was designed and built with a truly flat roof, which prevents water from efficiently draining from it.
The International Building Code (IBC) requires that ventilation be provided in all buildings. Building ventilation can be provided through natural or mechanical means. Mechanical ventilation is typically required in under-floor areas, bathrooms and some attic spaces.
“Accidents will happen” are words that make me cringe. It’s a form of defeatism and I suspect that people who mutter those words are more accident-prone than most.
Sustainability and green design are the largest emerging trends driving change in the roofing industry today. Frequently you will find the terms used separately or synonymously, indicating confusion in true meaning.
Garden roofs are a scenic application that is swiftly gaining popularity globally for commercial buildings in metropolitan areas. They are found on convention centers, college campuses, airports and medical facilities, just to name a few.
At the corner of Woodward and Jefferson in downtown Detroit, the Coleman A. Young Municipal Center houses courtrooms, city offices and the mayor’s office. It’s also famous for the statue that abuts it-Marshall Fredericks’ bronze statue “the Spirit of Detroit”-or, as it’s also known, the Jolly Green Giant. Recently, at the same time the statue was being refurbished, a splash of green was added to the building’s rooftop in the form of a garden roof.
The late fall and winter mark the season when the roofing and construction worlds are introduced to all manners of new materials, systems, accessories and equipment. The editors of Roofing Contractor like to follow up by sharing some of the items with which we have been most impressed.
Roof hatches are frequently used to provide safe and convenient access to and from rooftop areas in commercial buildings. These products allow service personnel to gain access to the roof for maintenance and facilitate the installation or removal of large pieces of equipment into or out of a building.
Roof replacement is an expensive proposition for building owners and facility professionals. Material costs have escalated for material manufacturers, making replacement costs as expensive as ever. The result is professionals in charge of roofing are more proactive in seeking the most cost-effective means of meeting their roofing needs.