As the cost of money continues to rise, many owners are considering ways to get life from their old, existing buildings. Today's metal building systems allow you to do more than just putting on appearances. You can extend the life of the building and save both maintenance and energy costs.
Start with the Roof
Stop the leaks. Not your production. When you re-roof with metal-over-metal, there’s no downtime. You don’t need to remove the old roof, saving time and expense. Metal-over-metal re-roofing systems let you install the new roof over your existing roof. The high-profile option can boost the insulation value of your roof by more than 50%. Retrofit roof systems can also meet stringent FMI insurance requirements.
Think a new roof is expensive? Consider what the old one is costing you! Maybe you can justify using the fixed cost of existing staff to clean up when your roof leaks. But the expenses can soar in an instant once that water damages inventory or production equipment. And that’s before you calculate how much money you’re losing in energy leaking out of that roof. Installing a new roof is a long-term fix that also saves you money by reducing your energy costs starting day one.
Turn your building into an energy producer by adding solar panels to your makeover. Metal roof systems provide a perfect base for adding solar panels. With a proven life span that exceeds 40 years, the metal roof will far outlast any solar panel. The solar panels are clamped to the top of the standing seam, so you won’t have to worry about additional penetrations leading to future leaks. Adding the additional two to three pounds of load to your roof could be problematic, so be sure to get your building structure evaluated by a qualified engineer.
Water and buildings don’t mix. It may sound obvious, but your building was never designed to deal with water on the inside. And when there’s one leak, there’s likely to be more. Many leaks can go undetected, giving that water time to wreak havoc dripping onto your insulation or running behind walls. It can even find its way to a column, run down to the concrete, and cause structural damage before you know it’s happening.
Metal Wall Systems—Solid, Useful, Beautiful
Your building makeover would not be complete without new wall systems. Metal panels featuring Kynar-based paint systems ensure that the enhanced exterior will last for many years with no chalking or fading. Tested assemblies are now available from manufacturers to allow you to specify standard metal walls to meet today’s energy codes without resorting to expensive and time-consuming prescriptive methods. With tested assemblies, you can more accurately predict the energy efficiency of the building.
Insulated metal panels (IMPs) can also provide a fast-track transformation for any building. They address multiple needs for any building makeover:
- Exterior and interior finish–An IMP’s exterior comes in various colors and finishes that can mimic any wall covering, from stucco to concrete. The panel also provides a finished interior that can help to reduce labor costs.
- Control of water, vapor, and air penetration–With highly engineered lap and fastener systems, insulated metal panels eliminate the need to add additional layers of water and vapor barriers than can add additional material and labor costs.
- Thermal control–The IMP system can easily meet or exceed your energy code requirements.
- Sustainability–IMPs are 100% recyclable and reusable, supporting your sustainability practices. With a minimum of 30% recycled content and available environmental product declarations, an insulated metal panel will support your efforts to go green.
Metal building systems are designed to give you more options to address the entire building envelope to improve the appearance of your existing structure and the total cost of ownership of the facility for years to come.
Bruce Bortree is the builder engagement manager at Kansas City, Mo.-based Butler Manufacturing. For more information, visit www.butlermfg.com.