Pleasant
Valley Country Club offers members and guests a picturesque sanctuary of
rolling hills and lakes in Little Rock, Ark. Its 27-hole championship golf
course was designed by world-renowned architect Joseph Finger and is regularly
ranked among the best golf courses in Arkansas and the Mid-South.
State-of-the-art
tennis and fitness facilities, an Olympic-sized swimming pool, fine dining,
terraces, and a clubhouse large enough to hold weddings and events for up to
500 guests are just some of the reasons why Pleasant Valley Country Club is a
popular, sought-after venue in the area.
When
the roof system on the clubhouse began leaking, Pleasant Valley County Club's
general manager called on Raintight Roofing Inc., North Little Rock, Ark., for
help.
Having
previously worked on other Pleasant Valley Country Club roofing projects, such
as installing a low-slope TPO membrane roof system on another section of the
main building and installing decorative shingles on the exteriors of parapet
walls, Raintight Roofing was familiar with the country club's roof systems, but
this project would be more complicated than previous ones.
Initially
expected to be a repair and maintenance job, the original plan was to install
drains to address isolated areas of ponding water and repair a few leaks.
However, the Raintight Roofing crew quickly found that though the leaks into
the building's interior were minor, there was a lot of water underneath the
membrane and a complete roof system tear-off and replacement project would be
necessary.
The
clubhouse roof is a maze of pipes and equipment. There are 380 roof system
penetrations (an average of one penetration per 39 1/2 square feet), including
24 HVAC units, 32 electrical boxes with breakers and numerous vent pipes with
support stands throughout the roof's surface.
Constructed
in 1963, the building had several roof systems installed on it over the years.
In April 2018, Raintight Roofing workers began removing several layers of
built-up roofing and perlite insulation from the 15,000-square-foot roof area
down to the metal deck. Working on a roof with so many penetrations was not
easy.
"The
tear-off process was interesting to say the least," says Randy Hindman,
owner of Raintight Roofing. "In some areas, crew members had to lie flat
on their bellies while working underneath and around the pipes."
In
addition to creating physically demanding challenges, the roof system
penetrations made it impossible to store materials on the roof, so everything
was staged in a parking lot next to the building's main entrance. The crew used
a SkyTrak® telehandler to transport materials.
To
limit the number of parking spaces needed for staging, half of the materials
were delivered at the start of the project, and the remaining items were
delivered halfway through the project. Every morning, the crew transported the
materials needed that day to the roof.
"But
there wasn't enough room among the obstacles to even place that amount of
material on the roof surface," Hindman says. "So the crew erected
scaffolding inside the parapet wall and stored materials there. Then, to get
materials where they were needed, the crew hauled them by hand through the maze
of pipes and equipment."
Workers
used the Skytrak telehandler with forks and a big scoop to remove tear-off
debris and stage new materials. To avoid disrupting clubhouse activities, the
crew only operated the telehandler before 11 a.m. and at limited times during
the afternoons.
A
single hatch provided access to the roof. From there, the only way workers
could reach some roof sections was to crawl around and over rooftop equipment.
"I
spent a couple of hours crawling around the roof doing the warranty
inspection," says Jeff McCraw, territory manager for Mule-Hide Products
Co. Inc., Beloit, Wis. "Sometimes, we had to climb onto an
air-conditioning unit and then step down onto a pipe just to get to another
section."
The new roof system
After
workers completed the tear-off process, the crew installed 1 1/2-inch-thick
Mule-Hide Products polyisocyanurate insulation over the metal deck followed by
mechanically fastening Mule-Hide Products 60-mil-thick white TPO membrane.
Raintight Roofing has collaborated with Mule-Hide Products for about 12 years.
"We
like working with them," Hindman says. "Our territory manager
[McCraw] takes great care of us. He comes out to a job site and answers any
questions we have and takes care of issues that arise. That matters a
lot."
Each
of the hundreds of roof system penetrations needed flashing, requiring a
knowledgeable and skilled crew to tackle a wide range of detail work.
"The
Raintight Roofing crew did a great job handling a lot of different kinds of
penetrations coming through the roof and walls," McCraw says. "All
the work had to be done per specifications for the roof to be
warranty-eligible. It took a well-trained, well-versed crew to know what would
be acceptable on so many different types of details. Most roofing workers would
have looked at it and scratched their heads, but when I inspected this roof,
there only were a few minor things to be addressed."
A-mazed
Although
difficult logistics and an unusual amount of roof system penetrations created a
longer-than-typical work schedule for the roof size, Raintight Roofing workers
completed the Pleasant Valley Country Club project one month later, on time, in
May 2018.
"Our
crew members typically can tear off and replace about 20 squares per day, so
reroofing a 150-square roof usually would take about two weeks," Hindman
says. "But in this case, they only were able to complete about four
squares per day, so the project took more than eight weeks to complete."
According
to Hindman, since completing the new roof system, it has rained "a
bunch," but there have been no leaks or issues, a testament to quality
workmanship.
"The
crew is to be commended for their work on this job," McCraw says.
"Working while bent over or on your knees or lying flat on your stomach is
not typical on 99.9 percent of roofing jobs out there. This one was a
challenge, and only the best of the best could handle such a project."
"Our
crew is particular about their work and take pride in it," Hindman says.
"People have told me we have the best crew in the South. I'd put money on
that."
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