Blackfordby St Margaret’s Primary School Roof Refurbishment
The building that would be the St Margaret’s Primary School, officially opened by Robert Leitch the local parish vicar in 1889 provided education to children up to fourteen. The school underwent many changes in structure throughout its over 100-year existence continuing to provide the high level of teaching it always held. In 2012 it underwent a further change in the form of a huge modernisation project that would extend the school and allow more students to be taken.
Unfortunately, leaks were reported on the older parts of the building and despite localised repairs were not ultimately solving the problem, it was determined that long term waterproofing was needed and Polyroof Systems were chosen to be the solution.
Blackfordby St Margaret's Primary School
After reports of leaks it was imperative that the roofs in question were inspected to find where the issues were originating, in action to this a site survey was undertaken. The survey highlighted the original build-up consisted of an asphalt on a timber deck, this original system was in a aged condition. It was also shown that standing water and vegetarian had developed on the roof. In order to protect the building from further leaking it was determined that the roof would benefit greatly from the installation of a high-performance waterproofing system.
Along with waterproofing improvements, there would also be improvements made to the falls which would reduce the amount of standing water present on the roof. Waterproofing would not be the only recommendation; the roof was also to receive a full thermal upgrade which would further provide the benefit of increase fuel bills and less energy consumption for the school.
Taking into consideration all these points, the Polyroof Technical team began creating a bespoke specification that would provide the details needed to make these recommendations a reality. The Polyroof Approved contractor Thomas Cassie & Sons was specifically chosen to undertake this project due to their experience in liquid roofing systems. With a specification and approved contractor ready the project could officially commence.
Being that the existing build-up was made of Asphalt it could be retained and used as the Vapour Control Layer, taking this into consideration the area was inspected for defects and repaired where necessary. These repairs to the area would create a good solid base for the new Protec warm roof system to be installed. Once repairs had been made to the original waterproofing, the asphalt surface was thoroughly cleaned and prepared, this meant clearing any vegetation present and clearing any debris that may have accumulated during repairs. A timber hard edge was fixed to the exposed perimeter edges and a new 18mm Polyroof approved OSB3 was mechanically fixed to the inner and top face of the parapet walls to create a substrate for the later Protec System installation.
Once the asphalt was prepared Polyroof Cut-to-Falls insulation was then bonded to it using the Polyroof Twin Pack Insulation Adhesive completing the first part of the installation. After this point the Carrier Layer needed to be applied over the cut-to-falls insulation, the insulation is first primed use Polyroof SA Primer and then a self-adhesive Polyroof SA Carrier Layer is applied over the insulation. Once completed the Protec System is now ready to apply starting the final stage of the application, however first High quality Polyroof trims are fixed to the perimeter timber support battens including face fixings. The Protec system is applied directly over the carrier layer in a first coat consisting of Protec Resin and Polymat 450 and allowed to cure, areas including the parapet walls required a Uni-Primer DP before application. Once cured the second coat is added over the top to complete the installation, talking only 30 – 60 minutes to cure, due its RapidCureTM technology. A raised edge area of the building did not include the full system with insulation and was alternatively fully encapsulated using the Polyroof Protec System.
With the project area being a school, it was important that the general day to day activities of the school were not affected. The Contractor took every available precaution to limit the amount of disruption caused, keeping main entrances and walkway’s clear. Separate from this was the added benefit that Protec holds an advantage of being a cold applied system, which meant that work could be carried out during term time without any disruption.
The project was efficiently managed by both the contractor and regular Polyroof Technical Services visits to ensure that each aspect of the project from start to finish was carried out within the client’s specification, time frame and budget. The project was a great success showing the high-quality work from Thomas Cassie & Sons, soon after completion the Polyroof Technical Team inspected the roof in accordance with Polyroof guidelines and awarded the client the trusted Polyroof Accredited System Guarantee. The customer can now be confident that this new Polyroof Protec membrane will last for many decades to come.
