Article reprinted from Western Roofing magazine Sept/Oct 2007.

Packinghouse Reborn

Old Packinghouse Gets New Life in Claremont, Calif.

by Tony Matter, freelance writer for the construction industry

Like so many west coast towns, Claremont, California, was once home to a burgeoning citrus industry. For years, citrus groves and the money they created dominated Claremont’s local economy. Until World War II, the acres and acres of citrus trees produced such an abundant supply of fruit that lemons and oranges far outnumbered the amount of people living in this small Los Angeles suburb, but things have changed.

Due to California’s substantial population growth over the past several decades, large, spacious fruit farms have been replaced by tightly constructed residential developments. Old packinghouses that stocked and shipped Claremont’s once plentiful fruit supply have been torn down and replaced by strip malls, bookstores, and coffee shops.

A few years ago, Claremont city officials considered tearing down the last of these packinghouses and replacing it with a new town center that would feature museums, restaurants, and retail shops. When word spread throughout the town that the property might be razed, a group of local citizens formed a committee to save the last remaining symbol of their city’s rich history. After much debate and negotiation, Arteco Partners, based in Pomona, Calif., stepped in to alleviate the citizens’ concerns. The city government allowed Arteco to purchase and renovate the building, with one stipulation – that it be restored in its original style.

The old packinghouse was constructed with steel beams and featured corrugated metal that covered the building’s saw-tooth roof. For the building to be outfitted with the same, corrugated metal, a special heat-resistant underlayment had to be installed that would be able to withstand the stifling California sunshine.

Arteco left the decision of selecting an underlayment to the metal contractor, Lavey Roofing Services, a Tecta America Company from nearby Santa Ana, Calif. Lavey specified a Carlisle Coatings & Waterproofing (CCW) Water and Ice Protection (WIP) 300HT underlayment to be installed under the new corrugated metal.

CCW’s 40-mil WIP 300HT is a high tensile strength, rubberized asphalt underlayment specifically designed to withstand temperatures up to 240°F. The rubberized asphalt is laminated to an impermeable polyethylene film layer, making CCW WIP 300HT a waterproofing underlayment that provides dual-barrier moisture protection. Unlike other underlayments, CCW’s WIP 300HT will not melt or become brittle, even under the most extreme weather conditions.

Specializing in metal siding, roofing, and sheet metal applications, Lavey knows a thing or two about quality metal underlayments. “We have used a number of self-adhering, high-temperature underlayments in the past, but we’ve found that CCW WIP 300HT has outperformed them all. In fact, we use it far more often than any other high-temperature underlayment,” said Bruce Thompson, project manager for Lavey Roofing.

Before Lavey could install the CCW WIP 300HT underlayment and corrugated metal on the 90,000-square-foot building, Arteco had to find a way to turn the old packinghouse into a usable piece of property. Jerry Tessier, president, Arteco, turned to an in-house architect and Mark Von Wodtke, principal at Claremont Environmental Design Group (CEDG) to redesign the packinghouse. For several months, Von Wodtke and Arteco worked to develop innovative and unique solutions that would transform the property into a vibrant, multi-use complex that would give the government what it was looking for while preserving a piece of the town’s history. The result was a design that now features 55,000 square feet of leasable space, including three restaurants, one museum, multiple retail businesses, and 15 loft apartments.

According to Tessier, one of the most difficult and time-consuming parts of the design and construction was the roof. “The original roof on this building was nothing more than corrugated metal installed over a wood deck, a very inefficient system that did not meet Title 24 requirements,” said Tessier. “To keep the original look and meet Title 24 requirements we had to install insulation to the roof structure.”

To keep the building looking original while staying up-to-code, Arteco framed out a new roof that sits 18” above the existing roof deck. Using two-by-twelve’s to construct the frame, Arteco filled the 18” cavity with BAT insulation that helped the building meet Title 24 requirements and allowed the original rafters to remain exposed inside. Arteco then topped the new roof frame with plywood, creating a new deck that would be the base for the CCW WIP 300HT underlayment and finished corrugated metal roofing.

After the new roof deck was finished, Lavey began to adhere the CCW WIP 300HT. Because it is self-adhering, Lavey quickly and easily installed the waterproofing membrane to the 37,000-square-foot roof. “CCW WIP 300HT is a quality product that’s easy to use,” said Thompson. “Our guys really like to work with this product because it goes on fast and easy, allowing them to cover a large area like this in no time.”

Lavey’s crew installed the CCW WIP 300HT on one section of the saw-tooth roof before moving onto the next. They started at the bottom of each roof section and worked their way up, leaving five-inch overlaps with each subsequent WIP 300HT membrane to ensure a quality seal that would not leak. An added bonus to the CCW WIP 300HT underlayment during installation was the product’s white top surface. “CCW manufactures WIP 300HT in black and white,” said Thompson. “Our field crews really appreciate the white membrane because it stays cooler in the southern California sunlight.”

Like most saw-tooth roofs, the old packinghouse roof features interior gutters at the bottom of each roof section, an area that Thompson says overflows with water during heavy rainstorms and leads to premature leaks and failures. To address that problem, Arteco installed larger gutters and Lavey extended the CCW WIP 300HT directly into them to ensure watertight protection. For extra waterproofing performance in this troublesome area, Lavey installed a layer of TPO membrane over the WIP 300HT that extended slightly beyond both ends of the gutters.

Due to the extensiveness of the project, Lavey was not able to install the finished roofing product as soon as all of the CCW WIP 300HT was adhered. Fortunately, CCW WIP 300HT performs well and looks good for up to three months without being covered. “Everyone wants the underlayment covered and the building dried-in early, but because of the schedules of other contractors on site that isn’t always possible,” said Thompson. “We know CCW WIP 300HT performs excellently in these circumstances, so we were confident that any delays were not going to compromise the watertight integrity of the roof system.”

When the time came to install the finished roofing material, Lavey mechanically attached the 20-gauge, half-inch panels through their top ridge using two-inch screws and combination washers that prevented water infiltration. The exposed screws were installed through the CCW WIP 300HT underlayment and fastened directly to the plywood deck. CCW WIP 300HT membranes feature a self-sealing quality that allowed them to seal around the screws that punctured them when the screws were installed.

“The self-sealing feature on CCW’s underlayments was extremely beneficial on this project because the half-inch corrugated roofing is prone to leaks,” said Thompson. “We could not have ensured a watertight system without using a premium product like CCW WIP 300HT.” •••