Commercial Architecture July 2017 - 59

PROJECT

exteriors

Roofing Tops Tight Schedule
Distribution center TPO roof is applied in winter temperatures
using Secure Bond technology.

t the grand-opening ceremony for its 1,045,000-sq.-ft.
distribution center, Jeff Brown, National Freight Inc.
(NFI), Cherry Hill, NJ, president and vice chairman,

referred to the "tight timeframe" for the construction.
Tight? The project was completed in 10 months from groundbreaking in September 2014 through June 2015. That's when the
warehouse tenant, retailer Five Below Inc., Pedricktown, NJ, began shipping product.
As in any building project, weather can be a serious factor, especially during the roofing phase. Roofing contractor Dave Bieber, owner of M. Potteiger Inc., York, PA, submitted a bid that
called for completion before winter began.
Weather shouldn't have been an issue in installing the single
layer, metal deck, 3.3 in. of mechanically fastened ISO board, and
12 ft. x 100 ft. sheets of 60-mil Firestone Building Products', Indianapolis, UltraPly TPO fully adhered, field-applied adhesive as
specified. Instead, due to several delays, the roof installation began just as one of New Jersey's coldest winters was about to begin.

THE CHALLENGE

"Sometimes winter can be a cruel beast when installing a roof,"
said Bieber. Field-applied adhesive requires time to flash-off to

foot sheet. The looks on the guys' faces were like, 'Wow, this is

allow the TPO membrane to be glued to the insulation. No sun

pretty easy.'"

and low temperatures equate to even longer delays for the crews to
continue the job. With time lost due to the weather, the very real

THE RESULT

possibility existed of not having the roof dried-in soon enough to

"You don't have any glue to mix or keep warm," said Purvis. "No

allow work inside the building to proceed.

empty buckets to dispose of. The job site is just so much cleaner.

Understanding time issues like these, Firestone Building Products introduced UltraPly TPO SA with Secure Bond technology-a product that can be installed in temperatures as low as 20 F.
Contractors could now install a fully adhered system without letting the weather dictate their schedule.

At the Five Below distribution center,
roofers used UltraPly TPO SA with Secure
Bond technology, allowing the roofing to
take place in weather as cold as 20 F.

You literally just have the rolls, the fasteners, and the welding
equipment, so it just made it really easy."
Bieber sums up the results very simply. "We could install more
roof per day because we didn't have to wait for the glue to dry."
They say in the roofing industry that one of the highest com-

Jeff Purvis, president of Performance Roofing Associates Inc.,

pliments for a job well done is that the roof looks like it grew

Exton, PA, a Firestone sales representative, brought the product to

there. Very flat. Very uniform. No wrinkles or other imperfec-

the general contractor with the help of the builder, ARCO De-

tions. "When we look at that surface with the UltraPly TPO SA

sign/Build Northeast Inc., King of Prussia, PA. It would be used

technology, that is exactly what we see," Bieber said proudly. CA

to enclose a critical perimeter section of the roof. This would allow the crew to work on the building interior. The crew had never
installed the product, but with the help of Firestone's on-site advisors, it didn't take long to figure it out.
"We rolled the sheet out, put it into place, had two roofers on
each side of it and loosened the contact film," said Bieber. "They
just started pulling it back. And as they did, the sheet laid into

Want more information? To download the information listed below,
visit commercialarchitecturemagazine.com/1707firestone

Circle 4 on the Reader Service Card.

Get more information on UltraPly TPO SA products.

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COMMERCI A L A RCHI T EC T URE

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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Commercial Architecture July 2017