Texas High School Re-Roofing Addresses Urban Heat Island Concerns

Marcus High School is one of more than 65 facilities that comprise the Lewisville Independent School District (LISD). Located north of the Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, the massive 127-square mile district serves more than 53,000 students. Over a decades-long partnership, Johns Manville and Martin-Tomlinson Roofing Company (M-T) have built a great track record with LISD and have completed dozens of roofing projects for the school district together.

The job, re-roofing 195,000 square feet, was made up of several attached buildings covering as many as 12 different roofing areas. This massive project covered only half of the Marcus High School campus and there were very few places where M-T had flat surfaces to work on. With the client requiring minimal disruption to students, most of the work was completed over summer break. Then, exceptional care was taken once school was back in session to keep students and faculty apart and safe from the job site where M-T’s 10-man crew continued to progress. The new roof also needed to be highly reflective and compliant with the International Energy Conservation Code, as required in the southern United States. The heat island effect is a concern under the relentless Texas sun.

After evaluating the roof and information from JM about its product offerings, Martin-Tomlinson, and a third party roofing consultant determined that some of the existing insulation could be left in place and that the tear off only had to go down to the cover board, not down to the roof deck, a few inches below. Salvaging existing insulation benefited the school financially and is better for the environment since fewer materials had to be discarded and replaced. Additionally, not removing those additional inches from the roof saved time, which saved the LISD even more money. Before starting the tear off, specialized equipment was brought in to remove loose gravel to create a clean working surface. Then, the old four-ply built-up was removed. The updated roofing system is a two-ply JM SBS heat-welded modified bitumen roof system with highly reflective sur-facing. JM ENRGY 3® and specified cover board was applied with JM RS Urethane Adhesive low-rise foam. The roof was covered with a JM SBS roofing system using one-ply each of JM DynaWeld™ Base and DynaWeld™ Cap FR CR G. Heat island concerns are diminished with DynaWeld™ Cap FR CR G, and the roof is ENERGY STAR® certified. Generally, roofs with this certification use less energy and last longer, even under the relentless sun and in high humidity. M-T Vice President, Jesse Byrd credits the technical knowledge of his JM sales rep and the outstanding service of his JM support person with the success of this job. “I never needed to call technical support with questions. I went right to Joel Lewallen, the most knowledgeable roofing guy I know, and I know lots of them. We never had to stop work waiting on materials. JM technical representative, Andy Austin was always available for support and he made sure we could keep working.”

Martin-Tomlinson was awarded the work for the 2nd phase of the job (1/3 bigger than the previous phase) due to the proven performance of both Martin-Tomlinson and JM products.