This article Reprinted from Western Roofing magazine, March/April 2007, Volume 30, number 2

Napa Winery

Beringer Vineyards Gets a New Roof in Northern California

by Tony Matter, freelance writer for the construction industry

The reroofing project at Beringer Vineyards in Napa, Calif., covered 120,000 square feet on two buildings. The roofs on the two buildings were failing and winery officials knew something had to be done to maintain the integrity of the winery’s world-class wines.

“Both buildings had sprayed-in-place polyurethane foam roofs (SPF) that continually failed around penetrations in the deck, causing major problems for the operations inside,” said Clem Lee, Beringer’s director of engineering. “We were always chasing leaks.”

Working closely with independent Carlisle representative Don Lambrecht, Lee chose Carlisle’s 60-mil TPO membrane because of its cool roof capabilities. “We wanted a reflective roof that wouldn’t leak and would help us keep our energy costs down,” said Lee. “Don showed us some local Carlisle TPO jobs, and we liked what we saw.”

Lee contacted Warren Construction and Roofing Incorporated of Santa Rosa, California, to install the new roofs. Warren is a dedicated Sure-Weld installer who had previously installed a Carlisle TPO roof on an administration building at Beringer. “We’ve laid down more than 400,000 square feet of Carlisle TPO in the past three years,” said Mark Warren, owner of Warren Construction Company. “Sure-Weld is the only TPO we use due to its ease of application and Carlisle’s dedicated technical support staff.”

Warren conducted the project at Beringer in two phases. In the first phase, Warren replaced the failing roof on a 40,000 square foot barrel storage facility, where the vineyard stores its wine before bottling. In order to ensure a high quality wine, Lee said the barrel room must remain at a constant 60°F and 80% relative humidity.

Warren started the project by tearing off the existing R-panel metal deck that was completely rusted due to the failing SPF roof. The crew replaced the entire deck with what Warren said is the go-to deck for TPO, a B-panel 22-gauge metal. “The most challenging part of the tear-off and replacement of the deck was doing it in an unobtrusive manner,” said Warren. “While we were working, there were continuous operations going on inside the barrel room.”

Warren’s crew tore off 6’ x 120’ sections of the deck and immediately replaced them before moving to the next section of the roof, minimizing the disturbance to the workers inside. After the deck was replaced, Warren installed the new roofing system, which consisted of a 6-mil polyethylene vapor barrier, to help keep condensation from forming, as well as polyisocyanurate insulation to help maintain the interior temperature at a constant 60°F. Finally, a 60-mil TPO membrane was mechanically fastened using Carlisle’s Piranha plates and HP-X fasteners.

The second phase of the Beringer project involved replacing the 80,000-square-foot roof on a building that housed three different operations. Administrative offices made up approximately 5,000 square feet of the building and the rest was split between cased good storage and another barrel room, which required the same constant temperature and humidity as the previous building.

Warren began work on the second building by replacing 3,300 square feet of 1/2” plywood deck. On top of the deck Warren mechanically fastened 2” polyiso with a foil facing on the inside, which acts as a vapor barrier, to again keep the humidity of the barrel room and storage warehouse at 80%. After the polyiso, Warren installed 1/4” DensDeck® followed by 6’ x 100’ sections of the 60-mil Sure-Weld TPO membrane. This completed the roofing project. “There are no more leaks on those two buildings. They are completely dry and they will remain completely dry for a long time,” said Warren.

After the project was completed, Lee admitted he was very pleased with the new roofs. “Carlisle’s TPO was a much cleaner and faster installation than the previous roof systems we have worked with. The bottom line is that Carlisle’s Sure-Weld TPO is an attractive roof,” he said.

Along with remaining dry, Carlisle’s TPO roof system allowed Beringer to reduce the amount of equipment it needed on the rooftops to keep the buildings cool. As part of the project, Warren removed the four rooftop air handlers that were previously on the 80,000-square-foot building and also reduced the number of air handlers on the first building from six to two.

With its highly reflective properties, Sure-Weld TPO is becoming very popular in areas such as California where cool roofs are becoming the standard. “Carlisle’s polyisocyanurate insulation and the cool roof capabilities of their TPO allowed Beringer to reduce their cooling equipment needs,” said Warren. “Sure-Weld is the easiest way to achieve an energy efficient roof that follows California’s strict Title 24 requirements for cool roofing.”

Less than two years after becoming one of the first commercial roofing manufacturers to produce 10 billion square feet of single-ply membrane, Carlisle SynTec Incorporated has once again reached an industry milestone by selling the one-billionth square foot of its highly reflective Sure-Weld® TPO membrane. The record-setting installation took place at Beringer Vineyards, a world-famous winery in St. Helena, California.

“This is truly an historic event for both Carlisle and the single-ply roofing industry,” said Nick Shears, Carlisle’s vice president of sales and marketing. “We will continue our dedication to excellence for billions of square feet to come.”

“It is fitting that the one-billionth square foot was installed in California, an area that is fueling the rising popularity of TPO in the commercial roofing market,” said Shears. “The reflective properties of TPO make it a perfect choice to meet the stringent guidelines set forth in building codes such as Title 24.”

In October 2005, the California Energy Commission amended Title 24, making cool roofs the prescriptive minimum for virtually all low-sloped, non-residential roof projects including both new construction and reroofs. California law requires cool roofing materials to have an initial reflectivity of 0.70. Carlisle’s white, Sure-Weld membrane has a Cool Roof Rating Council initial reflectivity rating of 0.79.

Accustomed to garnering widespread recognition for its top-shelf products and facilities, Beringer Vineyards is the longest continuously operating winery in northern California’s Napa Valley wine region. Becoming part of Carlisle’s illustrious 40-year history is just another notch in Beringer’s belt, which includes winning multiple “No. 1 Wine of the Year” awards from Wine Spectator magazine. •••