Infrared Moisture Scan To Determine Scope Of School Roof Repair – Youngstown City Schools – Youngstown, OH

The Mahoning County High School, located in the P. Ross Berry Middle School, reached out to TEMA Roofing to discuss roofing concerns for their building. Despite the fact that the facility itself was only 14 years old, the school was experiencing regular leaking throughout the building.

Together with the Youngstown City School District, the staff at TEMA quickly worked to assess the needs of the P. Ross Berry location, in addition to two other properties: The Choffin Career & Technical Center and the school district’s bus garage.

In late 2019, The Youngstown City Schools contacted TEMA Roofing to schedule an initial meeting to discuss roofing concerns at the P. Ross Berry building, located at 940 Bryn Mawr Ave. in Youngstown, OH.

After meeting and reviewing various roofing failures and the lack of preventative maintenance on the relatively new roofing system, TEMA suggested that the school complete an infrared roof moisture scan of the entire roof to determine whether the system was in need of a complete tear-off or if an overlay could be utilized.

Additionally, after the initial conversation about the P. Ross Berry location, school officials also asked TEMA to coordinate a potential budget for commercial roofing at the Choffin Career & Technical Center and the school district’s bus garage. Together, all three projects potentially qualified for cooperative purchasing through The Interlocal Purchasing System (TIPS), which the school system had never heard of prior to meeting with TEMA Roofing Services.

Despite the fact that the roofing system was only 14 years old (originally constructed in 2006), leaks and compromised areas were present throughout the building. 

Assessing for Commercial Roof Replacement Versus Roof Overlay

After an infrared roof survey of the compromised roofing system at the school, TEMA Roofing suggested that part of the roof be a complete tear-off and re-roof, while the remainder of the roof utilize an overlay solution.

What is an infrared roof moisture scan?

Infrared scans are nothing new. In fact, thermal imaging of roofing structures has been used since the 1970s. But, for decades, this particular assessment tool has helped to determine damage that the eye can’t see and lend a great deal of insight when planning for long-term roof repairs and maintenance.

(Basically, an infrared roof moisture survey gives professional roofing contractors a series of thermal images of the roofing system. These scans look for problem areas on the roof that are holding on to heat due to moisture and saturation.)

An infrared survey from a professional commercial roofing company can offer several benefits—scans are quick and accurate; thermal imaging will identify problems that can’t be seen on the surface of the roof; and, infrared moisture scans can provide a trustworthy assessment for planning repair, replacement and maintenance.

What constitutes a commercial roof tear-off versus an overlay?

The infrared roof survey laid the groundwork for determining whether the whole building needed a complete overhaul with a tear-off and new system or if a roofing system overlay could be utilized.

In the commercial roofing industry, an overlay is a process of placing a new roofing system over top of an existing system (there is no tear-off involved, as the old material simply sits under the new roof). However, the existing system must be in good enough condition to accommodate the new roof.

An infrared scan was used to determine the amount of moisture within the roof, and if a good portion of the roof was dry, then an overlay could be used (this would be great news for the school district because an overlay is ultimately less costly and takes less time to complete from start to finish).

The Importance of Preventative Roof Maintenance

While a commercial roof system should last longer than 14 years before presenting with roofing failures, it’s still important to take an active role in maintaining the health of your roofing asset. 

Unfortunately, in the case of the P. Ross Berry School, no preventative roof maintenance had been completed, which ultimately voided any potential warranty on the original system. (This is why the professionals at TEMA Roofing place such emphasis on the importance of proper roof asset management.)

What is roof asset management?

Much like how cars need regular oil changes and maintenance checks, commercial roofing systems require attention throughout their lifespan, even when issues aren’t present!

Roof asset management is the fiscally responsible way to manage costs for a building while, at the same time, reducing leaks, extending the roof’s life expectancy and ensuring that warranties remain intact.

TEMA Roofing’s roof asset management program offers numerous benefits: 

• Roof leak response 24/7/365
• Custom-designed preventative maintenance programs for every roof in your asset portfolio
• Cloud-based roof asset management program
• Redundant and secure server for data storage and backup
• A team of professionals with more than a century of combined experience to be your go-to contractor and advocate

Cooperative Purchasing for Roofing Assets

Cooperative purchasing is a little known option that helps both public and private organizations save time and money by eliminating the RFP process and gain access to trusted Design-Build services.

TEMA Roofing Services is proud to be the only commercial roofing company in the Youngstown, OH area that has the ability to contract with three cooperative buying organizations: The Interlocal Purchasing System (TIPS), OMNIA Partners and The Association of Independent Colleges and Universities of Pennsylvania (AICUP).

Cooperative purchasing can be especially helpful for school systems, a sector often forced to work within tight budgetary constraints.

After initial conversations, it was determined that in addition to the P. Ross Berry location, Youngstown City Schools also needed roof repair at two other locations: The Choffin Career & Technical Center and the school system’s bus garage. The professionals at TEMA suggested that the district consider cooperative purchasing in order to reduce timelines and ultimately lower costs for roof repair and replacement at all three locations.

In order to provide the best service and solution for the P. Ross Berry School’s roofing failure, TEMA completed an infrared roof moisture scan of the roofing system to guide the strategy for repair and replacement. If the majority of the roof proved to be dry (aka free of moisture within the roofing layers and insulation), then there would be an option for a roof overlay, which would cost less and be completed faster.

Upon completion of the infrared roof scan, TEMA found that only 25% of the schools roofing system was holding moisture, which meant that the majority of the roof could be fixed by installing an overlay on top of the current system. The remaining 25% of the roof that was compromised would need a complete tear-off and re-roof.

TEMA suggested a Duro-Last 60 mil PVC roofing system for both the re-roof and the overlay of the school building’s roof.

Duro-Last Single Ply Roofing Membrane Details

The Duro-Last 60 mil PVC roof membrane that TEMA Roofing used on the P. Ross Berry project is a single ply roofing membrane from Duro-Last, the world’s largest manufacturer of custom-fabricated commercial roofing systems.

This particular Duro-Last single ply roofing membrane can come in 40, 50 or 60 mil thickness, is the only product in the marketplace to offer prefabrication of the entire roofing system, and offers a 15-year warranty with consequential damage coverage.

To make sure that the warranty remains intake for its 15-year lifespan, TEMA also set up a roof asset management program for regular preventative maintenance (something the school had failed to do with the previous roofing system).

The school system’s custom roof asset management program will provide 24/7/365 roof concern response, regular preventative maintenance and a cloud-based system to keep track of all roofing information for every facility in the asset portfolio.

Additionally, TEMA worked with the school system to secure all three locations (P. Ross Berry, The Choffin Career & Technical Center, and the bus garage) with an approved specification and contract through the TIPS cooperative purchasing program. This type of purchasing power gave the school system the opportunity to save money by eliminating the RFP process and avoid the risks of low-bid, low-quality work. TIPS serves school systems, colleges, universities, non-profits and government entities throughout all 50 states.

TEMA’s holistic approach (inclusive of infrared roof moisture scanning, a combination of tear-off and overlay roof installation, the implementation of roof asset preventative maintenance, and the incorporation of cooperative purchasing) helped the P. Ross Berry School, The Choffin Career & Technical Center and the Youngstown City School System’s bus garage address roofing concerns in a budget-friendly and time-conscious manner.