Custom Roof Solution

by Stacy Rinella | January 24, 2024 7:00 am

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When Yankee Construction was approached by Architect Robert Gabalski of Lothrop Associates LLC for an upcoming building addition project, they were faced with a challenge. Lothrop Associates envisioned a sweeping, non-traditional, single planar roof where standing seams are laid out in a pattern, where the pitch of the seam is not perpendicular to the roof edge. The new expansion was part of the children’s room addition for the Hendrick Hudson Free Library in Montrose, N.Y. and was designed to reflect and inspire the artistic spirit of the community. With the new roof meeting up with the previous fascia, this presented challenges.

Safety first

The library addition also features a walkway around the perimeter of the building. For safety reasons, the original specification called for snow guards; however, this was another obstacle as the team was without exact specs on the type, or brand which would best match the angles of the new roof.

One of the most substantial problems, besides the angles, was the Hendrick Hudson Free Library’s requirements called for a significant amount of the roof’s usable square footage to be allocated towards the installation of photovoltaic panels.

Thinking outside the guards

Traditional snow guards often present the problem of forcing installers to adhere to angles which are way out of sync with the architect’s vision.

“The issue was with the angles of the seams on the roof and the roof lines,” says Smith. There was no way to make a straight snow guard work.

The Hendrick Hudson Free Library’s new metal roof has a 1,066.8-mm (42-in.) spread between these brackets and an angle open 165 degrees. It was immediately clear a standard snow guard system which could maintain the angles of the new addition, while also leaving enough room for the number of specified solar panels, did not exist.

Teamwork makes the roof work

Searching for a solution, Yankee Construction presented their dilemma to a snow guard manufacturer. Gary Dinnebeil, president of Yankee Construction, recalls how there was only one roofing snow guard company willing to approach the problem, and invent a new product tailored to address this unique challenge.

The engineers envisioned a brand-new product called variable angled bracket (VAB) for inclined roofs that could solve the issue Yankee Construction was facing with the library addition. Co-engineer Bob Mercier says where traditional metal roof snow guards can only be installed 90 degrees to the seam, a VAB allows for installation of snow retention rails within a variable range, making it possible to match up with more exotic architectural angles.

The VAB’s added flexibility allows roofing contractors to accommodate many more types of roofing designs.

Carroll Marston, is a sales engineer with AceClamp. For more information visit www.aceclamp.com.

Source URL: https://www.metalarchitecture.com/products/custom-roof-solution/

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