The Wachovia Building in downtown Greensboro, N.C., commonly referred to as the "Old Wachovia Building" by Greensboro residents, was built in 1966 and served as Wachovia Corp.'s Greensboro headquarters for 24 years. However, the 16-floor building has been vacant since 1990, when asbestos problems and an asbestos removal project drove tenants away. The vacant building then became the subject of a legal battle concerning mortgage payments, and, eventually, a Pittsburgh bank took control of the building's title.
In 1997, Jefferson-Pilot Corp., a Fortune 500 company based in Greensboro that has since been acquired by Lincoln Financial Group, Philadelphia, purchased the Old Wachovia Building. And in 2004, the building was purchased by Carroll Investment Properties, Greensboro, which planned to renovate the building and turn it into upscale condominiums.
Center Pointe Condominiums, which Carroll Investment Properties planned to name the renovated building, would feature a ground-floor restaurant, second-floor offices, about 150 condominiums and a 16th-floor penthouse for the company's owner, Roy Carroll, and his family.
Renovation of the Old Wachovia Building began in October 2006. As part of the renovation, Carroll wanted a new roof system installed. Greensboro Roofing Co. Inc., Greensboro, negotiated the job with Rentenbach Constructors Inc., Knoxville, Tenn., the project's general contractor.
A quality roof
The Old Wachovia Building's high roof system is 143 squares. Another 19-square roof system is on the second floor.
"The building has a concrete deck," says Dale Sloan, Greensboro Roofing's vice president. "The existing high roof system was a smooth-surface built-up roof system with 11/16-inch-thick fiberglass insulation. The second-floor roof system was a smooth-surface polymer-modified bitumen roof system with the same insulation as the high roof."
Greensboro Roofing began tearing off the existing roof systems May 21, 2007.
"We used cutters to cut the roofing materials into about 3- by 3-foot sections, which we placed in our trash box," Sloan says. "A stationary crane picked up the trash box and lowered it to a bin where the trash was unloaded.
"There was no asbestos in the roof systems—one of the unique aspects of the building's overall renovation was the complete gutting of the building down to the bare steel structure," Sloan continues. "We began to reroof the building while it was completely exposed under the roof decks."
After the existing roof systems were removed, Greensboro Roofing began installing the new high roof system.
"Carroll requested a 'quality and enduring roof,'" says Terry Glidewell, Greensboro Roofing's owner and president. "We selected a GAF Materials Corp. polymer-modified bitumen roof system with the redundancy of glass felt and a modified cap because we knew these products would meet the requirements."
Greensboro Roofing installed a tapered polyisocyanurate insulation system using GAF EnergyGuard™ ISO. A 1/2-inch-thick EnergyGuard High Density Fiberboard was installed, as well. The insulation's average R-value is 16.92.
"The roof system spec is GAF I-2-1-30FR, which is two plies of GAFGLAS® FlexPly 6 felt with a RUBEROID® 30 FR SBS polymer-modified bitumen cap," Sloan says. "The entire system is installed in Trumbull TruLo® Type III hot asphalt."
The building's second-floor roof system has not yet been installed; Greensboro Roofing will install a similar polymer-modified bitumen roof system later this year.
A few challenges
Greensboro Roofing faced some unique challenges during the project.
"The entire project depended on a crane," Sloan says. "We used an insulated hot tank with a crane hook to transport hot asphalt to the roof. The building is 240 feet tall at the top of the parapet wall."
Because of the building's height, extra safety precautions had to be taken. Greensboro Roofing installed a Garlock Equipment Fall-Ban™ CableGuard System with steel cables around the roof's perimeter to protect the eight to 16 Greensboro Roofing crew members who worked on the roof system at various times.
"The entire site around the building was fenced off with a chain-link fence, and our setup was within the fence's boundaries," Sloan says. "Our kettle was staged near the building away from other contractors' work areas and completely away from public traffic. All crane operations, including lifting materials and asphalt, also took place within the confines of the chain-link fence."
Additionally, Greensboro Roofing had to cope with the high roof system's many penetrations.
"There are a tremendous number of penetrations on the roof, which required more than 350 copper pitch pockets, as well as several roof curbs," Sloan says. "After we finished work on the high roof, I completed a roof plan showing all the penetrations. It looks like the roof has the measles."
A good experience
Greensboro Roofing completed work on Center Pointe Condominiums' high roof system Dec. 14, 2007. However, there are changes being made to the penthouse below that are requiring some additional work on the roof system.
So far, the project has proved to be a good experience for Greensboro Roofing.
"Installing a quality roof system in adverse and challenging site conditions has been rewarding," Sloan says.
Ashley St. John is Professional Roofing's associate editor.
Project name: Center Pointe Condominiums
Project location: Greensboro, N.C.
Roof system type: Polymer-modified bitumen
Project duration: May 21, 2007-Dec. 14, 2007
Roofing manufacturer: GAF Materials Corp., Wayne, N.J.
Roofing contractor: Greensboro Roofing Co. Inc., Greenboro, N.C.
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