By Monty Banner The intercontinental manufacturing Company (IMCO) complex in Carland, TX, is com¬ prised of over 40 buildings situated on a 39-acre com¬ pound just outside of Dallas. The main building (Building 7) had been plagued with roof leakage for several years. Its roof assembly was unlike any we had ever encoun¬ tered. As a result of a wood shortage during World War II, when it was built, its deck consisted of four layers of sheetrock. The sheetrock panels were two feet wide and eight feel long. They were laid over 4″xl2′, wood joists on four-foot centers. In the 1996 IMCO budget, a capital expenditure was approved for replacement of a portion of this roof in 1997. The project included the removal of all existing roofing sys¬ tems, which was a formidable task due to approximately six inches of accumulated layers of roofing membranes. A 3/4- inch plywood deck would then be installed over the old sheetrock deck and a four-ply built-up roof would be applied over the plywood. On the first day of work it became appar¬ ent that the sheetrock was in worse shape than anticipated The sheetrock deck could not bear any foot traffic. The slightest bit of pressure on the unsupported portions of sheetrock would send material cascading into the interior of the plant. By the end of the day, the engineering department made the decision to change the scope of work in the middle As the result of a wood shortage during the war, the deck was constructed with four layers of sheetrock. of the project. At this point, 5,000 square feet of old roofing material had been removed. This exposed the sheetrock, which had been overlaid with plywood and covered with a base sheet. Ark Roofing, Inc. was asked to calculate the additional cost of removing the freshly-installed 5,000 square feet of ply- After the roof was removed, the sheetrock deck was found to he in worse The fasteners had to be removed one by one. shape than originally anticipated. March 1998 Interface • 33 Left to right: Monty Banner, president of Ark Roofing, Mike McNutt, facilities manager of IMCO, Scott Frances, facilities engineer of IMCO. wood and base sheet and extract the sheetrock deck from the entire area to be reroofed. Ark Roofing personnel burned the midnight oil and responded with revised cost figures and a plan of action the next morning. The engineering staff was able to acquire an approval for the newly-amended plan and expenditure within two hours of presentation to them. The task of removing the sheetrock deck proved to be ardu¬ ous, as several factors had to be taken into account. The fas¬ teners had to be removed one by one so that the panels could be removed somewhat intact. It still proved to be impossible to extract the embrittled material without a part of it falling into the interior of the building. Since the plant’s production line had to remain operational during construction, the hours when work could be performed were limited to the afternoon and evening when the building was vacated by personnel. The plant was filled with fragile and expensive equipment which had to be protected from the incidental falling debris, and the interior of the building had to be cleared of all demo¬ lition rubble and protection apparatus each day prior to the arrival of the morning work shift. These new conditions required an increase of the work force by 30% and a considerable addition of equipment to accommodate the estimated 6,000 cubic feet of extra waste material. IMCO’s engineering department wisely planned the project to commence in the traditionally dry month of August,- as expected, precipitation was not a complicating fac¬ tor. The project required a total of six days to successfully complete, with no incidence of personnel injury or equipment/ property damage. The three principal participants in the project were: Mike McNutt (facilities manager of IMCO), Scott Frances (facilities engineer of IMCO), and Monty Banner (president of Ark Roofing, Inc.). About The Author Monty Banner is the president and CEO of Ark Roofing, Inc., and CEO of Retro-Mastic Roofing Systems, offering a line of coldapplied commercial repair products. Both companies are based in Irving, Texas Banner is also author of The Troubleshooter’s Field Manual, an instructional guide and refer¬ ence source for repairing commercial roofing systems. A member of NRCA, RC1, CSI, RCAT and NTRCA, Monty has served as an officer, committee chairman, and commit¬ tee member for his local and state roofing associations in the course of his 26-year involvement with the roofing industry. NEED INFO? Contact RCI’s staff at Headquarters. They work for you. Francis A. Acquaviva Executive Director Lori Alston Meetings Kris Ammerman Interface and other publications Sharon Dupre Receptionist Laurice Hewitt Bookkeeping Micki Kamszik Membership/ Certification William Myers Marketing Coordinator Keep RCI Updated. Send in your address changes. JUL 34- Interface March 1998
