Texas Roof Management Wins Three Golden Hammer Awards

Texas Roof Management Inc has received Golden Hammer Awards for three recent Dallas projects … The Mosaic, the Gables Uptown Tower and the Dallas Museum of Art.

The Golden Hammer Awards, presented by the North Texas Roofing Contractors Association, are given to companies who perform outstanding re-roofing projects.

The Mosaic project involved renovation of the former Fidelity Union Bank and Insurance Complex, two aging vacant downtown Dallas office towers. The result was the creation of The Mosaic, a downtown Dallas residential community.

“The Mosaic was chosen for the award because of its difficulty in staging, tremendous number of challenges, safety requirements during construction, cool
integrated artwork and finished appearance,” said Catherine Awtrey, President and Owner of Texas Roof Management Inc.

The 35,000 square feet of existing roof was riddled with challenges, including poor access between the 15 different roof levels situated between the 21st and 36th floors of the two towers. All roofs required removal of up to four layers of existing roofing containing asbestos, coal tar pitch and fiberglass insulation. Also, inadequate drainage and severe ponding water existed on every roof level.

The perimeter of many of the roofs included only a gravel guard edge, beyond which there was a drop-off to street level of 230 to 410 feet. Awtrey noted safety precautions included perimeter fall protection consisting of steel posts and three strands of steel cabling with flags mounted to the structure.

“Fall protection railings (around 30-plus openings) were cut into the deck prior to the installation of the roof, and railings were set up inside the building below holes in the deck to protect workers below the opening,” Awtrey said. “All men working on the roof outside of the fall protection were tied off with lanyards and safety lines to a tie back and a second lifeline to a different tie back.”

Awtrey said GAF Materials Corporation products used on The Mosaic roof included EnergyGuard Tapered ISO 1.5 inches up to 7 inches, Liberty SBS Self-adhering Base Sheet, Ruberoid SBS Heatweld 25 and Ruberoid Torch FR. The adhesive used on The Mosaic roof was OLYBOND 500/Spot Shot by OMG Roofing Products.

The Mosaic project was completed on schedule and within budget. Dallas Mayor Tom Leppert and about 700 invited guests celebrated the grand opening on December 6, 2007.

The Gables Uptown Tower project involved the replacement of the roof on the 22-story tower formerly named The Residences at McKinney. The 12,000 square feet of existing roof included a protected roof membrane assembly consisting of a 45-mil EPDM membrane laid directly over the structural concrete deck.

The EPDM was covered with a tongue and groove insulated cementitious protection board to provide a protective traffic surface over the roof membrane. Set directly on this traffic later were 206 small residential-style A/C condensing units that literally covered the entire roof surface wall-to-wall, with the exception of the narrow paths between the rows of A/C units.

The Uptown Tower was chosen for the award because of its difficulty in staging, difficulty in working around 206 air conditioning units on 100 squares of roofing, and difficulty in installing an IRMA (inverted roof membrane assembly) with full concrete paver surface under all equipment, Awtrey said. The entire project was extremely complex.

Safety on the project included perimeter fall protection on the penthouse roof with workers tied off with lanyards and safety lines to window washer davits, Awtrey said, noting workers were “stationed on the ground and on the fifth floor pool deck beneath hoisting areas to keep pedestrians free of loading and off loading sites.”

Awtrey noted that at the time, the Gables Uptown Tower was one of the most difficult re-roofing projects Texas Roof Management had completed in Dallas.

The Dallas Museum of Art project had many significant challenges also, including access issues, site coordination, public safety and materials handling requirements.

However, perhaps foremost on the minds of everyone involved was the $600,000,000 in artwork that was expertly protected throughout the entire re-roofing project by the Texas Roof Management team. The existing roof was removed entirely, and with rain a possibility, working quickly and effectively were keys to this successful project.

Choreography was also a key factor. Everything from beginning to end was choreographed to take advantage of all possible efficiencies.

Although there were certain restrictions that had to be abided by, it was the decision of Texas Roof to do all work at night. A typical schedule was from 10 PM until 4 AM. This was done in order to afford the Museum and all people near the area an unencumbered access, and the freedom to move about with no work being done overhead. Working during these night hours was accomplished by using huge spotlights built in the TRM sheet metal shop.

Additionally, there were noise ordinances and lighting ordinances to be followed. There were also times when streets had to be closed, as the safety of all pedestrians was critical.

The project took a total of four months, and those four months were during the summer, typically the busiest time for the Museum. The Dallas Museum of Art remained open and continued to serve the citizens of Dallas and all visitors during this time period. Normal Museum operations remained the order of the day, every day, including weekends when TRM shut down its operations to allow for weddings and other special events to take place as scheduled.

The existing roof was removed entirely, and a three-ply Siplast modified bitumen roof was installed. The roof was an inverted assembly with the roof membrane applied directly to the concrete deck. This was then covered with a drainage medium, R-20 XPS insulation, a filter fabric and a combination of stone ballast concrete pavers. A 20-year warranty is now in place.

Playing a significant role in the restoration of the integrity of the Dallas Museum of Art while protecting its treasured art collection was very rewarding for the entire Texas Roof Management team, Awtrey said.