Photo courtesy of D&D Monarch Sheet Metal Inc., Denver.
Photo courtesy of D&D Monarch Sheet Metal Inc., Denver.
Photo courtesy of D&D Monarch Sheet Metal Inc., Denver.
The American Heritage Center at the University of Wyoming, Laramie, is not a dusty attic or an exclusive library but a lively place where experts and novices engage with original sources of history. Internationally known for its historical collections, the American Heritage Center is a repository of manuscript collections, rare books and university archives.
Since its establishment in 1945, the American Heritage Center has acquired nearly 70,000 cubic feet of historically important documents and artifacts and is among the largest nongovernmental archives in the U.S. The center supports a wide range of research and teaching activities in humanities, science, arts, business and education. Each year, the American Heritage Center's professional archivists and librarians provide instruction to collegiate and public audiences through a variety of symposia, scholarly programs, lectures and exhibits that feature the center's collections. Access is free and open to all.
In 2013, the American Heritage Center's 20-year-old roof system was leaking, potentially damaging many fragile and irreplaceable documents. The project's roof consultant, Foothills Roof Services, Denver, selected D&D Monarch Sheet Metal Inc., Denver, to perform the tear-off and new roof system installation on the building.
Prep work
In May 2013, D&D Monarch Sheet Metal began its work on the American Heritage Center. With millions of dollars' worth of one-of-a-kind books, memoirs, art collections and Western history artifacts contained within, keeping the building watertight throughout the tear-off process was a top concern.
The building's unique cone-shape design made erecting scaffolding around the entire building a challenge—the process required 12 men and six weeks to complete. The scaffolding's 700 legs could not be attached to the building because the new roof system's added insulation and cover boards would increase the thickness 5 inches. As a result, after each new roof system layer was added, the scaffolding's legs were lifted to accommodate a new height and prevent penetrating the new roofing material.
For security and safety, D&D Monarch Sheet Metal limited scaffolding access to two stairways installed on the north and south sides; however, limited access made removal of tear-off debris difficult. Because of limited space to store new roofing materials, stocking was done weekly and calculated according to location and weight to avoid overloading the scaffolding and building.
Coordination with building occupants and special events staff needed to be communicated daily; all work was scheduled around building activities. Because the American Heritage Center is located in a highly congested pedestrian area across the street from the University of Wyoming's football stadium, D&D Monarch Sheet Metal workers installed a 12-foot-high plywood wall on the scaffolding to keep out unauthorized personnel.
Unpredictable weather created another challenge. In the mountains, it is common for strong winds, rain or snow to appear without warning, so materials remained covered and tied down at all times. Some work was performed during winter—the first snowfall that year was about 10 inches. Workers had to shovel snow regularly from the scaffolding for safety and to avoid overloading the structure with extra weight.
Skylights
As a result of the new roof system's thickness, D&D Monarch Sheet Metal needed to raise, reframe and reinstall 31 skylights. Replacing the skylight system was time-consuming. To complete one of the 8- by 40-foot skylights, workers demolished the old glazing and frame system and installed new wood blocking and temporary plywood to cover the skylight for the night. The next day, workers removed the plywood to install a new skylight frame and then temporarily covered the skylight again for the night. The next day, workers uncovered the skylight to install a new roof system layer, and the process was repeated until the new glazing was installed.
Maneuvering the new, custom-made glass for the skylights in between scaffolding braces without damaging the glass added another level of difficulty. The pieces were so large and heavy, they were set in place via crane one piece at a time.
An improved roof system
Once the skylights were raised and renovated, D&D Monarch Sheet Metal began work on the roof system. The new roof system's design included added insulation to allow the building's internal humidity levels to be raised to better accommodate storage of aging, delicate manuscripts and artifacts.
D&D Monarch Sheet Metal workers removed the original 20-ounce copper panels and underlayment down to the plywood substrate. To keep the occupied building watertight, workers removed only the amount they could reconstruct in one day.
D&D Monarch Sheet Metal's crew installed one layer of SECUROCK® over the existing plywood. A layer of Soprema's SOPRAVAP'R then was applied followed by two layers of Atlas ACFoam®-II Polyiso Roof Insulation. Workers then installed one layer of 1/2-inch-thick fire-treated plywood and one layer of Carlisle's WIP® 300HT.
Next came the Fabral pre-finished 24-gauge flat-lock steel panels fabricated by D&D Monarch Sheet Metal. Each 2- by 2-foot panel was tapered and custom-made by D&D Monarch Sheet Metal's workers to fit the unique cone-shape structure. More than 15,000 panels were hand-carried to the correct scaffolding locations to be installed in sequential order, an incredibly time-consuming process. To keep the horizontal lines in each row of panels straight, a water-level tool was used to mark the panel rows according to the cone-shaped building.
In addition to accomplishing the tremendous panel installation task, D&D Monarch Sheet Metal coordinated more than 15 installers and eight subcontractors to help install window wells, new windows, masonry work, concrete, new framing, drywall and painting at proper project stages.
Coning it in
After 28,000 man-hours, in December 2013, D&D Monarch Sheet Metal completed its work on the distinctly shaped American Heritage Center. Because of the difficulty of raising every scaffolding leg to accommodate the new roof system's thickness, the project took longer than expected, but D&D Monarch Sheet Metal achieved its goal of installing an improved, watertight roof system to help store and protect the facility's irreplaceable materials.
"The most rewarding part of the job was being able to accomplish the task of giving the building owners more insulation value in the new roof system to allow them to raise the indoor relative humidity needed to properly store historical artifacts and paintings," says Jeff Nissen, project manager for D&D Monarch Sheet Metal.
For its exceptional craftsmanship and coordination of the American Heritage Center project, D&D Monarch Sheet Metal received a 2015 Gold Circle Award in the Innovation Solutions: Reroofing category, an honorable mention in the Outstanding Workmanship: Steep-slope category and a prestigious Gold Circle Safety Award.
Chrystine Elle Hanus is Professional Roofing's associate editor and NRCA's director of communications.
Project name: American Heritage Center at University of Wyoming
Project location: Laramie, Wyo.
Project duration: May 2013-December 2013
Roof system type: Steel
Roofing contractor: D&D Monarch Sheet Metal Inc., Denver
Roofing manufacturers: Atlas Roofing Corp., Atlanta; Carlisle WIP Products, Carlisle, Pa.; Fabral, Lancaster, Pa.;
Soprema Inc., Wadsworth, Ohio; USG Corp., Chicago
Gold Circle Awards: Innovation Solutions: Reroofing; Outstanding Workmanship: Steep-slope
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