Warehousing » Project Profile: Agracel - Pinnacle Foods
 |
|
At Jewett Roofing Company we strive to give our customers the knowledge they need to choose the best long term solution for the facilities they oversee. Here is a profile of one recent project to show some real-world problems and the solutions that Jewett was able to provide.
The Project
In the Fall of 2006, Jewett Roofing Company assisted Agracel, Inc. of Effingham, Illinois, in engineering a long term solution to a large, complex, and highly technical project they had renovating the former Quebecor Building on South Banker Street in Effingham which included over 300,000 sq. ft. of re-roof and a 100,000 sq. ft. addition to the building. The 300,000 sq. ft. section included a complete tear-off of two existing roofing and insulation systems, and the elimination of hundreds of rooftop penetrations that existed when the building was used as a commercial printing facility and were no longer necessary as this building was to become a distribution warehouse for a national food supplier.
Time Crunch
Construction had to be completed on a strict time table in order to be ready for the late-spring pickle harvest. This project began around the beginning of January 2007. Four-wheelers with snow plows were used on the roof to clear snow in order to keep production rolling and on schedule. The four-wheelers also removed tons of existing rooftop material to get down to the existing steel deck.
Phenolic
Over 100,000 sq. ft. of the tear-off included phenolic insulation. This insulation was produced and installed in the 1980’s and was discontinued when it was discovered that phenolic becomes corrosive to steel when wet. This has become a widespread national problem as many commercial buildings use steel panels for the roof deck. The damage on the Agracel building was extensive and the entire area had to undergo a remediation process and over 60,000 sq. ft. of the steel deck had to be replaced.
Weather
The weather imposed another challenge as the epoxy-based paint used in the phenolic remediation process needed to be kept warm enough for application. This required the temporary installation of a heated rooftop building that kept the product at proper temperature.
Other Solutions
Although this large warehouse is only heated in the winter to keep the building around 50 degrees, Jewett had an energy study performed and determined that 2" of polyisocyanurate insulation was the optimal thickness to balance cost and energy efficiency over the life of the building.
The roof system chosen for all 400,000 sq. ft. on this project was the 40 mil Duro-Last roofing system. This highly-reflective white membrane has the durability and water-tight engineering necessary to protect the Agracel building for the long-term. With over 6 million square feet of this system installed across the Midwest, Jewett has the experience to install it with precision and expert craftsmanship.
