Project: Fisher Hall at Michigan Tech

Building Owner: Michigan Technological University

Location: Houghton, MI                                                                                                        

Roofing Contractor: Lake State Roofing, Inc.

Roof Area: 35,000 square feet

Completed: June 2005

Manufacturer: IB Roof Systems

System: 60 mil white CPA membrane fully adhered to mechanically attached

Deckmate™ Plus

Fisher Hall at Michigan Tech Roof Topped with "Cool" Roof

“An abundance of leaks.”  That’s the plain and simple way Mike Wilmers describes the condition of an existing roof on Fisher Hall at Michigan Technological University.  Wilmers is a project engineer in the school’s Facilities Management Department.

The existing roof featured an EPDM system with taped seams.  It had been up there for about twenty-five years, and in Michigan weather, that’s a long time.  The summer heat and winter cold had done their work, shrinking the rubber and pulling at the taped seams.

Wilmers received five bids on the project. One of them was from Ed Theisen’s Lake State Roofing, Inc., an IB Roof Systems Authorized contractor.  Theisen’s bid centered around the use of IB Roof Systems white PVC membrane. Michigan Tech had never used IB materials before and Wilmers took both sides of the new product coin into account: will the company be around in a few years to honor their warranty, and what problems can an innovative product solve?  Ed Theisen’s positive answers to those questions left no doubt in Wilmers’, mind and Lake State Roofing got the job.

The project consisted of a lower and upper roof, a total of 35,000 square feet, all of it low slope. The existing EPDM was stripped off the gypsum and concrete substrates, and Deckmate™ Plus, topped with OSB board, was mechanically attached using IB screws. IB 60 mil white CPA membrane was fully adhered using IB water-based glue. Thiesen ran the membrane up and over the parapet walls of the lower roof. On all the edges he used an IB clad metal gravel stop. A Leister Varimat walker welder was used to weld the seams of the membrane together with hot air. Bound together in this way, the seams become the strongest part of the membrane, a vast improvement over the weak taped seams of the old EPDM system.

One additional feature was needed to meet Michigan Tech’s requirements. Project engineer Mike Wilmers knows all too well how important that feature is. “When you get workmen up there to repair HVAC or other mechanical equipment, they can be hard on a roof,” says Wilmers. Ed Theisen addressed the problem by adding IB Walk Tread membrane to create pathways leading to all the mechanical equipment. Walk Tread is attached with adhesive backing. The edges are then hot-air welded to the roof membrane.

Wilmers was very pleased with the job Lake State Roofing did. Ed Theisen points out that using IB Roof Systems’ products makes it a lot easier to do a good job. One big reason is the completeness of the system. The IB system includes all accessories, from the water-based glue used to fully adhere the membrane, to finishing touches like clad metal drip edges and pipe boots. “Their accessories are the best I’ve ever seen,” says Theisen. “When I’m working with IB materials I know I’m not going to have to manufacture anything in the field.”

Another reason Theisen likes working with IB materials is the company itself. “They’re really good at IB. If you ever have any kind of problem, all you have to do is call them and it immediately becomes a very small problem.” Not having to worry about the product makes it easy to concentrate on the job.

Mike Wilmers appreciated Thiesen’s attention to detail. “Ed even made an improvement to the roof structure,” says Wilmers. “The previous installer hadn’t bothered to taper the insulation around the parapet, so Ed did that for us.” That attention to detail showed in everything, even down to the appearance of the roof. Wilmers has learned from experience that, especially with a low-slope roof that’s not going to be seen from the ground, a lot of roofers don’t care about appearance. “I do care,” says Wilmers. “The Fisher Hall roof can be seen from the windows of taller buildings on campus. This roof looks great.”

Wilmers also can anticipate that the white membrane will reflect the heat away from the building envelope during the hot summers in Michigan and the resulting lower air conditioning costs. The IB Roof System's CPA white membrane can create a more energy efficient building envelope because it reflects up to 90 percent of the heat that would normally enter a building through the roof. On a day when the temperature is 85° F, a black roof can reach 172° F, but the IB white membrane only heats up to 91° F.

A white or "cool" roof can also qualify restorations projects, as well as new construction, for points toward the US Green Building Council's LEED Green Building Rating System and LEED certification. This is because the reflectivity of a white membrane helps lower roof temperatures, lessening the urban heat island effect and decreasing smog formation. This feature of a white membrane also helps building owners comply with increasing stricter governmental energy savings regulations such as Title 24 in California. The IB Roof membrane has received additional third-party verification of its energy efficiency, including an Energy Star rating.

Other sustainable features of the roofing membrane include its design to be recyclable in the interest of having the least environmental impact, and can be placed over an existing roof membrane to eliminate additional waste going to the landfill.

Tony Smith, of IB’s technical services department, isn’t surprised by Michigan Tech’s glowing praise of Ed Thiesen and his company, Lake State Roofing, Inc. Part of Smith’s job is to inspect completed work by IB certified contractors like Theisen. “Ed did an exceptional job on the Fisher Hall roof,” says Smith. “He runs his team with precision and it shows. I gave him a perfect ten in every category.”

Beyond the perfect tens, IB Roof Systems backs the job with a full systems factory warranty.  That makes Mike Wilmers’ job of keeping the Michigan Tech buildings in shape a lot easier.