Grand Prairie Elementary School

Project Details

Project Overview

Earlier this year, Ridgeworth Roofing performed test cuts throughout various roof areas on the Frankfort School District’s Grand Prairie Elementary School to identify maintenance items and solutions to include in its upcoming reroofing project. Architect Andy Leja of FGM Architects and Mike Tolzien of manufacturer Derbigum Americas, Inc. designed a roof system with a long-term warranty that would suit the district’s needs. After attending the mandatory pre-bid meeting, Ridgeworth prepared a bid for the project.

Ridgeworth’s Ryan Petrick then attended a scope review meeting with the district representative, architect, and manufacturer, and Ridgeworth was awarded the project as the low responsible bidder.

Frankfort School District and Derbigum Americas, the manufacturer of the installed roofing membrane, made a long-term agreement when the school district installed a new, high quality roof on the Grand Prairie Elementary School 25 years ago—a prudent, sustainable plan about future roof work long before “sustainable” became an industry buzzword.

“The Frankfort School District has been very good at maintaining and babysitting their roofs, if you will,” says Mike Tolzien of Derbigum Americas, who has been working with the school district for more than 20 years. “So these roofs have performed very, very well for them over that period of time. The plan all along was, instead of completely tearing off and removing these roofs, to overlay them—or what we call in the industry, recover them—and achieve another guarantee.”

The more economical and environmentally friendly approach of overlaying the roof saved the school district money as well as the inconvenience of a larger project.

“The cost to recover or overlay this roof was approximately one third of the cost that it would have taken to completely tear off and remove and start from scratch on this roof,” says Tolzien.

All told, the Frankfort School District has received 50 years of roof membrane coverage from Derbigum Americas: 20 years on the original guarantee combined with 30 years of coverage for the most recent overlay performed by Ridgeworth.

The project began with an infrared survey that allowed Ridgeworth’s experts to identify during inspection a few small areas of moisture-contaminated roofing. They removed and replaced these areas and then primed the roof areas with a Derbigum prime. Next, the Ridgeworth team installed a two-ply modified Derbigum roof system in a cold-process adhesive. The installation of all sheet metal completed the project.

“We’re very proud of the work that Ridgeworth did,” says Tolzien. “ I can tell you that the workmanship and the attention to detail by Rod and Ryan and the group there at Ridgeworth was exceptionally good. They understood the significance of a 30-year water tightness guarantee and…the project was executed very smoothly. I think that everyone was very pleased with it. Ridgeworth did a really nice job, their people did a really nice job, and we believe that the school district got a very, very good roof.”

Andy Leja of FGM Architects, who oversaw the bidding and construction process, was pleased with the collaboration as well.

“This was Ridgeworth Roofing’s and FGM’s second roofing project at the Frankfort School District 157-C,” he says. “Working with Ryan and his team is always a pleasure. They’re always very helpful, offer great solutions, and are able to think outside the box. Their positive attitude and great communication make projects successful.”