Olympic Preparedness
More than 20 Olympics-Related Buildings Roofed with TPO
by Mike Russo, freelance writer for the construction industry

Here’s a bit of Olympics-related trivia that even participants at this year’s Winter Games may not know:  most of the buildings used for housing, training, or events were protected by TPO single-ply roofing - almost three million square feet of it.

         Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada was the largest city ever to host a Winter Games and spent $5.5 billion preparing for the event.  The resulting real estate boom spawned many new TPO roofs throughout the 3,800 square miles of downtown stadiums and 15 far-flung athletic venues.

         Why was TPO such a popular choice in the Vancouver/Whistler area?  “On large-scale, wide-open buildings without a lot of roof traffic, TPO performs well for a long period of time,” says Sean Lang, IP, RRO and president of Interprovincial Roof Consultants Ltd. in Vancouver, BC.  “It’s also easy to keep clean.”

         Lang, along with his senior consultant, David R. Guthrie, AT, RRO, specified TPO for the reroof of the PNE Coliseum, a large domed building with a common valley running around the building as a gutter.  “A smooth, thick membrane like 60-mil TPO alleviates problems with debris, roof granules, or gravel collecting in the gutters and moving down into the drainage system,” says Lang.

         This particular building was designed with a tongue-and-groove wood deck, and building owner PNE was concerned about dust and debris interfering with events and resulting in lots of clean up during construction.  Because there were two roofs on the building already, the roof design team opted to tear off the second roof and leave the original built-up roof system in place.  “Mechanically attached TPO was more cost effective and fairly quick to install without any unnecessary disturbance to the interior,” says Lang.  “It is basically a quick and easy system without a large cost associated with it.”

         The specification also called for 1/4” gypsum cover board on top of 1.5” of polyiso insulation.  “Gypsum cover boards provide a nice, clean substrate for the membrane and help prevent thermal bridging to some degree,” says Lang.

         Winter Olympics or not, the PNE Coliseum needed reroofing.  The previous home of the Vancouver Canucks, the dome had held up well, but the top layer of SBS needed to be replaced.  Lennie Coughlin, a sales representative with Enercorp Inc., Canadian agents for Carlisle SynTec, Carlisle, Penn., is a private pilot who noticed the dome needed reroofing while flying over it several years ago.  Coughlin was also instrumental in selling Carlisle Sure-Weld(TM) TPO on 22 other roofs in the Vancouver area.  “At the time, the coliseum was owned by the city and it decided to wait on the reroof,” says Coughlin.  “But later on, my proposal was taken back off the shelf.”

         With 33 years of experience in the roofing industry under his belt, Coughlin teamed up with distributor Convoy Supply and some of Vancouver’s best roofing contractors to get the Winter Olympics dried in.  “There were 24 different projects, all with different architects, and all but one went with TPO,” Coughlin says. 

         Though reflectivity isn’t always the best choice in this northern climate in terms of energy efficiency, TPO was an ideal choice for aesthetic purposes given the visibility of the Olympic venues.  The roofs were enhanced with energy-efficient vapor barriers and double layers of insulation where appropriate to minimize the reduced energy efficiency that a reflective roof provides in this climate.

 

A Sense of Pride

         The Vancouver, BC, office of roofing contractor Flynn Canada Ltd. was involved in a number of Olympics-related projects, including:  the Richmond Speed Skating Oval; the Olympic Village; the Nordic Venues, which includes Biathlon and Cross Country facilities; the Media Centers, including the Vancouver Convention Center; and the Pacific National Exhibition facility for the Vancouver Organizing Committee (VANOC).  One of the primary reasons Flynn Canada was able to meet the time restraints that came with the many venues is the national strength of the company and support of sharing manpower where required.  “Just about every single member of our field force has been touched by the Olympics, so we definitely feel a sense of pride and accomplishment here,” says Jim Matsuo, general manager of Flynn Canada.

         One of the company’s most challenging jobs was installing more than 1,000 squares of mechanically attached Sure-Weld TPO on the new University of British Columbia Thunderbird Arena.  The new dome tied into the east side of a smaller rink that was roofed with SBS modified bitumen.  In addition, there was a large secondary TPO lower roof level adjacent to the SBS roof.

         Because the project ran through the winter months, safety was the number-one priority for Flynn Canada crews.  In addition to the membrane roofing, Flynn Canada also installed the steel decking on this project to ensure that the deck and roof installation remained seamless in coordination.  “The main area was all barrel roof and extremely steep, and in winter the footing was slick,” says Matsuo.  “All the men were keyed into working safely.”

         The specifications called for 1/2” gypsum cover board over the steel deck, followed by a six-mil poly vapor retarder and two layers of 1.7” Carlisle polyiso insulation.  The 60-mil TPO membrane was then mechanically fastened through the deck.

         “One of the biggest trends here is the popularity of LEED-rated construction, and the TPO scores points for reflectivity,” says Matsuo.  “Also, because a lot of projects are schedule driven, the versatility of TPO in terms of area coverage and speed are a big advantage.  With the TPO sheets being larger, we can get more square feet down in one day than with other roofing systems.”

         Matsuo recalls seeing the arena on TV during the women’s hockey events.  “There was a lot of teamwork involved from the design stage to the finished project.  Everyone should be proud of their contributions to the Olympics this year.  Without the site management and coordination by Bird Construction, Toronto, Canada, on this project, this would likely not have met schedule.  The entire project team worked well together to ensure it did.”

 

Olympics Training Center

         The Langley Events Center was earmarked as a training facility for this year’s Winter Olympics.  In early 2008, Raven Roofing of Langley, BC, won the bid on the project and finished it three months later.  The 1,500-square roof features both ballasted and mechanically attached TPO.  “This is a highly visible dome, and the TPO gives it a clean, aesthetically appealing look,” says Neil Rook, owner of Raven Roofing.  “Our goal was to give them the best roof to match their budget.”

         Raven’s 10-15 man crew installed 2.3” of Carlisle polyiso insulation over the mechanically attached portion of the roof, and EPS insulation over the ballasted system.  A vapor barrier was primed and adhered to the roof deck.

         “The popularity of TPO is a combination of cost, performance, and aesthetics,” says Rook.  “In addition, the insurance costs for installing torch-down systems escalated so much in this area that it really gave TPO a shot in the arm.”

         “Roofing contractors can drive the type of roofing chosen in this area,” says Rook.  “It is at times possible to switch a spec to TPO or single-ply roofing, if we can produce the proper documentation and warranties.”