Three stadiums built since mid-1998 are protected by a Johns Manville UltraGard thermoplastic membrane and a fourth, the Tigers Stadium in Detroit, will soon follow. The UltraGard membrane is specified for a variety of reasons. Wendell Chamberlin, AIA, CCS with the architectural firm Ellerbe Becket of Kansas City, Missouri selected the Johns Manville roofing system for the Bank One Ballpark in Phoenix because, "Thermoplastic meets our color specification that is an important component of stadium roof design and it offers superior wind uplift characteristics. Johns Manville has the testing capabilities and the technical back-up to meet wind requirements of our aerodynamic designs."

 

Customization was key to John Kalkreuth of Kalkreuth Roofing & Sheet Metal when he specified an UltraGard membrane for the Jerome Shottenstein Center Value City Area at Ohio State University (better known as the home of the Ohio State Buckeyes). The unique design required a custom membrane that was 96 mils thick as well as a standard 60 mil. The architects also wanted a custom dove gray color. The membrane was cut to specifications before it was delivered, preventing waste. According to Kalkreuth, "The architect was very particular about the look of the job. We had to be very specific with sheet layout so that it was symmetric on rounded corners."

 

Safeco Field, the home of the Seattle Mariners, was not only an extremely complicated project, but it had to be completed during a very wet season. Ron Haight, the project manager for Haight Roofing said they had to contend with a record of 91 days of measurable precipitation between November 1, 1998 and March 1, 1999. According to Haight, "The Johns Manville UltraGard SR-60 and SR-80 thermoplastic membrane allowed for some very creative installation techniques, which couldn't have been utilized with other roofing materials."

 

One such creative technique was a special flashing that was designed to protect more than 300 penetrations created by steel beams. And in order to highlight the beams, the architect specified a custom color, which came to be known as "Mariner Gray."

 

The roofing team also faced the challenge of working on roof decks that ran from low slope to vertical with the most severe areas hovering more than 200 feet above ground. Because they were suspended from safety harnesses linked to lifelines, their ability to handle materials and tools were greatly restricted. According to Haight, "The UltraGard thermoplastic provided for easy manageability in the field, a huge consideration given the extreme conditions encountered during the installation."

 

Johns Manville UltraGard membrane also has been selected for other challenging projects where the roof has a number of penetrations or when the owners need a system to protect sensitive equipment. That was certainly the case with DIRECTV in Culver City, California and with the Southern California Clini-Lab in Pasadena. DIRECTV needed to protect millions of dollars of broadcasting equipment while the Clini-Lab houses a great deal of expensive diagnostic equipment.

 

According to Bill Bryan, the project manager for Southern California Roofing who specified the UltraGard roofing system for DIRECTV, "White, reinforced thermpolastic single ply roofing is state-of-the art and has an excellent record in the western United States." The reflective UltraGard thermpolastic is particularly well suited for Southern California because it holds up extremely well despite being exposed to atmospheric pollutants and building movements caused by minor earthquakes.

 

Jeff Spriggs, president of United Single-Ply faced a number of challenges when his company was selected to roof the new Southern California Clini-Lab. Due to the type of facility, the roof had many penetrations and pitch pockets. Johns Manville UltraGard Thermoplastic membrane was selected to speed installation time, reduce waste and provide leak-proof integrity. Time was saved and waste minimized because the sheets were prefabricated according to roof drawings. The prefabricated accessories including pipeboots, round pitch pans and thermoplastic coated metal for pitch pans and base flashings were extremely important for leak-proof integrity.

 

"We are very pleased with the response to our UltraGard line of thermpolastic roofing membranes and accessories," said Michael Johannes, Director-Single Ply Membranes. "These roofing systems, which carry a no-dollar-limit guarantee, are ideal for customers who want a flexible roofing system that can be customized. UltraGard membranes also have tremendous reflective ability which makes them a good choice to use in warmer climates," he said.