The Little Red School Roof X 14
By Jen Kramer   

We’ve all heard stories of “little red school houses.” Maybe some of us even went to school in one. This is the story of a little red school house roof times 14 – some 77,000 square feet of school house roofing divided over 14 buildings to be exact.

“We wouldn’t have minded going back to school – in fact we’d love to have more projects like this,” says Bruce Brower of EnviroShield Roofing Services, the coatings contractor sub-contracted to perform the coatings work. “It was just that the weather made things so difficult.”  Well, nobody likes being at school during the summer, right?

But the EnviroShield crew wasn’t in school during the summer to make up for lost time. They were at the Beauford County, South Carolina school because of their know-how. Sub-contracted with CE Bourne and Co., and working from June to September, the crew was charged with applying a customized blend of Gaco-Western’s roof coatings to get just the right shade of red onto the school’s extensive roof system.

“The metal roofs were in good condition,” Brower explains. “The problem was they were spread out, chopped up. There were lots of smaller roofs totaling 14 in all, which meant that we had to break down and set up again for each different location.” That included re-rigging Miller safety cables and fall lines to attach to the crew’s five-point harnesses for each roof.

Feeling Hot Hot Hot

In addition to falls, the crew had to be on the look-out for signs of heat exhaustion. “Every single day of this job came with a heat advisory,” Brower says. “Each day was at least 98°F or more with a heat index of 115. And once we started spraying the red roof coating, we were getting roof temperature readings of 179°F.” And the product is moisture-cured “so working at night was not an option.”

In order to avoid heat-stroke or worse, Brower and his crew would typically start work early, at 6:30 am, and work until sunset, usually around 6:30 pm. They took frequent breaks and were sure to stay constantly hydrated throughout the course of the day.

An A+ Job

So just what did these 14 different summer school assignments entail? “Actually coating the roofs was the easier part,” says the experienced Brower. “Each roof was coated in the same manner.”

Before the crew did any coatings work, they first used silicone to fasten the metal strips that run along the roof’s edge. “Next, we used a 3300 psi Graco machine and water to pressure wash the entire roof surface.”

Once the metal roof had been cleaned of all debris, it was inspected for damage, leaks, etc. “Fortunately, these roofs were in good condition,” Brower states. “There were no leaks or damaged spots, only very few areas of minimal surface rust.”

Following the surface prep, the crew used an airless Graco HydroMax 350 to spray-apply a 5 mil WFT coat of Gaco Western’s GacoFlex E-5320 two-component epoxy primer onto the entire roof.

“After the primer had cured,” says Brower, “we used an airless Graco 833 to spray-apply three coats of Gaco Western’s GacoSil S-2000 ST Silicone to a total thickness of 40 mils DFT.” A single component elastomeric, waterproofing – and as previously mentioned moisture-curing – silicone, the S-2000 had been custom colored to match the red specified by the Beauford County School District.

Known for durability, color retention, and chalk resistance, the S-2000 did not require a top coat or sealer. Once it had cured, the EnviroShield crew could “turn in” their roofing assignment.

“It was a real nice job,” Brower humbly says of the project rather than the work, but the pictures speak for themselves. It was a real nice job. The EnviroShield Roofing Services crew has earned an A+ on this assignment – for effort in the face of difficult conditions and for the job itself, a beautiful, well-coated roof that will allow future classes to enjoy learning under the “little red school roof.”




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