Metal-over-metal retrofit roofing is a niche market for the contractor looking for get-in-and-get-out jobs. For the contractor who wants to take his metal craftsmanship skills and services outside new construction, metal-overmetal retrofit provides great opportunities. It is important, though, to understand this niche market before you set out to find these opportunities. Ask yourself this question: What businesses historically are housed in metal buildings with existing metal roofs? The answer can be quite abundant if you think about it. These businesses range from small automotive repair shops to medium and large manufacturing businesses to gigantic warehouses and distribution centers located in industrial parks. It also includes the multitude of port authorities all along our coastlines.
The fact is metal building manufacturers have been shipping buildings to these business owners for more than 40 years. Between 1970 and 1990 alone, member companies of the Metal Building Manufacturers Association shipped an estimated nearly 18 billion square feet of “knocked down” steel buildings to be erected. This doesn’t include the non-member company shipments or buildings that were conventionally framed with structural steel beams, girders and joists.
Buildings with metal roofs that are in the 20- to 40-year-old range are reaching the end of their service life. This isn’t to say that metal roofing only lasts 20 or so years, but the roofs back then weren’t equipped with the superior high-performance protective coatings available today like Galvalume and Kynar. In addition, some environments may accelerate the degradation of older metal roofs, which brings us to the point of this article: gigantic port authority warehouses.
These buildings have up to 5,000 squares of roofing. They provide shelter for very expensive contents waiting to be exported or shipped throughout the U.S. and many probably need roofs.
The good news is some of the ports still have funding available through the American Recovery & Reinvestment Act. And due to recent hurricanes many ports have funding through the Federal Emergency Management Association. Projects funded by FEMA may have limited funds and will require you to hone your sales skills because owners may opt to do a shortterm fix in lieu of a long-term solution. But, when they understand the benefits of retrofit metal roofing, you will definitely get their attention. Don’t be discouraged. In recent years, several port authorities have replaced old metal roofs. There have been huge metal-over-metal retrofit projects located from the Ports of Baltimore and New Orleans to the Ports of Tacoma and Bellingham with many more elsewhere. To say the least, every one of these mega jobs were “really nice” for the contractor, metal roof manufacturer and the retrofit sub-framing supplier.
No matter how nice, they don’t come without hurdles. Because of their proximity to coastal waters, re-roofing projects at port authorities typically entail more stringent wind load requirements compared to when the buildings were originally constructed. The Ports of Houston and Corpus Christi, for example, now have minimum wind speeds of 130 mph to comply with the Texas Insurance Code and Texas Windstorm Association requirements. The Port of Mobile has an even more demanding design criterion of 140 mph. Many ports along the Gulf Coast are even higher, such as southern Florida, which requires buildings to withstand 150- to 175-mph winds.
When you do find the opportunity, you need to be equipped to discuss the benefits of providing a metal-over-metal retrofit in lieu of a remove and replace approach. Here are some points of interest:
• Remove and replacement exposes the interior of the building to the rain, snow and countless other issues while a metal-over-metal retrofit can be performed even while the building’s operations and processing continues.
• Remove and replacement may demand upgrading the existing roof purlin system to receive the new metal. Bridging and additional purlins will need to be installed at the roof’s perimeter zones-eave, rake, corners and sometimes the ridges.
• Worker safety is preserved due to working on the existing roof versus open-framed purlins.
• New insulation can be installed during a remove and replacement, but can be very labor intensive because existing mechanical and electrical equipment and plumbing interfere.
• In a remove and replacement, the old metal roof has to be disposed of, increasing costs going back and forth to the landfill or recycle yard.
• Metal-over-metal systems can be designed to upgrade the new roof to current wind loading in accordance with AISI and ASTM E-1592 testing criteria as required by updated building codes (IBC, etc).
• Metal-over-metal allows you to install new high-performance insulation systems (fiberglass or rigid) to increase the building’s energy efficiency, reducing heat gain/loss through the roof’s assembly.
• You can even install renewable solar thermal hot air/water systems between the old and new roofs.
• Some metal-over-metal systems can be engineered to increase the structural loading capacity of the existing roof purlin system to accommodate greater snow loads and even the weight of the retrofit assembly.
• Some metal-over-metal systems are Factory Mutual approved, which is applicable to building owners that require FM design criteria for insurance purposes.
• For projects in Florida, some metal-over-metal systems hold the required product approvals.
Before jumping into this market, do your homework. Talk to someone who knows the pitfalls and technical issues and can steer you in the right direction.
Mark James is the owner of RetroSpec LLC, Rowlett, Texas. For more information on retrofit roofing solutions, visit www.retrospecllc.com.
