Dairy Production Facility Roof Membrane Replacement and Roof Lift
Address:
66 Akron Road
Toronto, Ontario
Previously, we spoke about how raising the roof of your building can help with storage space and efficient industrial practices. Our client, a dairy production facility, outgrew their original premises and needed to expand to a second facility in the South Etobicoke area. They wanted to be close to their original location and to their labour pool that lives in the South Etobicoke area. They purchased a new facility with a clear ceiling height of 18 feet due to a limited supply of local industrial properties for sale.
The available ceiling height was insufficient for their needs. As such, they decided that they would raise the roof of the building by 33% to accommodate their new free-standing freezers and allow for additional warehouse product storage. Fedtech Construction Ltd. was brought in as a specialized contractor to raise the roof and build out the interior requirements for refrigerated storage. The team at Elite partnered with Fedtech and Roof Lifters to complete this project successfully on an extremely tight timeline.
The Ask
Increase the height of the roof in order to accommodate new machinery while still maintaining the integrity of the roof and repairing damaged areas.
Our Method
Phase 1 (pre-roof lift)
Step 1: Separate building mechanical connections
Before any work could be done to raise the roof, all of the mechanical connections needed to be severed to ensure safety while the project was completed. This included electrical connections, plumbing, sprinkler, HVAC, and other utility connections within project areas during construction.
Step 2: Prepare the roof
The Elite team cut back multiple layers of the existing roof membrane at the perimeter, including the parapet walls, as required, and at the tie-in to the existing roof areas, as indicated by the contractor/engineer on the project. The objective for this part of the process was to ensure that there would be proper separation of the steel deck and steel structure to allow the building to be raised.
Once these steps were in place, Roof Lifters raised the roof 10 feet using their CribPost system. If you’d like to learn more about the mechanics of how a roof is raised, click here.
Phase 2 (post-roof lift)
Once the roof is lifted, the gap left by the increase in height has to be filled properly so that the roof is supported and made watertight. All structural elements need to be reinstated.
Step 1: Install new steel structures
A structural steel erector installed the necessary steel elements to join the newly raised roof to the existing building.
Step 2: New parapet build
After consulting with our teams and the engineers on this project, new parapets were constructed from lumber to allow for the new membrane and metal coping installation.
Step 3: Merging raised areas
Because the entire roof was not raised, a new membrane upturn needed to be installed at the bottom of the vertical knee wall to tie in the old lower roof section to the raised roof section.
Step 4: Mechanical equipment re-installation
All of the required mechanical and HVAC connections need to be re-established to accommodate the new raised roof height. The Elite team will install new HVAC production equipment including curbs, wood sleepers, and tall cones at a later date.
Step 5: Copings & wall cladding
New metal copings will be installed and metal wall cladding (insulated freezer panels) will be added, as needed, on the vertical knee wall area.
The timelines on this project were very tight. The Roof Lifters crew were made available to complete their work and we had to have Phase 1 of our work complete to allow for their work to begin.
The roof of this building was made up of multiple roof membranes and was near the end of its useful life. We needed to be very careful when cutting back the old roof and removing the roofing materials so that the old roof membrane could be salvaged for several additional years. Our team took special care to ensure that damaged areas of the roof were repaired without affecting other areas by avoiding traffic over the roof as much as possible.
Raising the roof of a building is no small feat. Our team worked with Roof Lifters, engineers, contractors, and designers to pull off this major change to this building. The result is worth the work, and now this company can reach its full potential with enough space to expand. As the teaching goes, “According to the painstaking effort, is the reward!” [Ethics of Our Fathers]
Specifications
Building size: 37,094 sqft.
Building area raised: 26,841 (72% of total roof area)
Contact Elite Roofing for your next roofing project!
Contact Elite Roofing for your next roofing project!
Elite Roofing prides itself on quality workmanship and exceptional customer service. Here at Elite, we are more than just a roofing company, we are a family. We’re available 24/7 to answer all of your roofing questions. That’s the Elite Advantage.
