RhinoBond the "King of Roofing" on Anheuser Busch Warehouse
This Roof's for You
A company with a product known as the “King of Beers” is bound to be choosy when selecting roofing products and systems for use on their own production facilities. That’s why for many of its warehouses Anheuser Busch has specified the RhinoBond roofing system featuring a Sarnafil® brand PVC membrane. This system is proven to provide energy savings, wind uplift resistance, and longevity. It also can be installed quickly and efficiently. Like Anheuser Busch’s Clydesdales, it is a real workhorse.
Anheuser Busch’s most recent Sarnafil RhinoBond installation was on a 150,000-square-foot warehouse in Malden, Massachusetts. The existing metal roof was covered with pre-cut insulation to fill in the flutes, which was then followed with a Securock® cover board from USG Corporation and Sika Corporation’s EnergySmart Roof® utilizing a 60 mil Sarnafil membrane. The membrane was attached with the RhinoBond attachment system from OMG Roofing Products of Agawam, Massachusetts, USA.
RhinoBond, designed for use with thermoplastic PVC and TPO roofing systems, uses advanced induction welding technology to bond the membrane directly to specially coated plates used to secure the insulation to the deck, all without penetrating the roofing membrane. The result is a roofing system with improved wind performance that requires 25 to 50 percent fewer fasteners and plates and up to 30% fewer membrane seams to weld on the roof.
In addition, since the fastening points are spread out across the roof deck in a grid-pattern rather than concentrated in the seams of the membrane, the wind uplift load is distributed more evenly. The result is less point loading on each fastener, enabling the system to achieve higher wind ratings with fewer fasteners.
Another advantage to using RhinoBond on a metal roof retrofit is that eliminating the traditional in-seam fastening means that membrane seams do not have to be aligned exactly over the purlins, so there is no need for specialty purlin-width sheets, which simplifies installation and eliminates waste.
A Smooth Installation
“The RhinoBond system allows us to be competitive on these Anheuser Busch roofs, which are typically 150,000 square feet,” said Craig Nichols, district manager/New England sales at Sika Corporation – Roofing. “The installation is much faster because fewer fasteners are needed, and with no half rolls, there are fewer seams to weld. Under the right circumstances it is a fantastic system, which is why in Massachusetts alone we have installed 10,000 squares of the RhinoBond and Sarnafil system over the past four to five years.”
“The RhinoBond system is a popular choice for building owners because of the quality installation and the cost,” explained Matt Brown, chief financial officer at Greenwood Industries of Millbury, Massachusetts, the installers of the roof on the Anheuser Busch warehouse in Malden. “That’s why we have been installing the RhinoBond roof since it was introduced, and are now one of the top contractors in the amount of square feet that we install each year.”
Gary Peterson, project manager at Greenwood Industries added, “With the RhinoBond system you remove the use of adhesives, which means there are no issues with odors from adhesives. This is especially important on occupied buildings such as this one.”
A Winning Team
The installation of the RhinoBond and Sarnafil roofing system on the Malden warehouse took a 10–12 person crew less than two months during the fall of 2013. After the three inches of expanded polystyrene was installed, the Securock Gypsum Fiber was mechanically fastened with five fasteners per 4-ft. x 8-ft. board. The RhinoBond plates were secured with fasteners directly into the purlins at 12 inches on center in the field, 9 inches on center in the perimeter, and 6 inches on center in the corners. Full width Sarnafil membrane was then rolled out and heat- welded to each of the RhinoBond plates using the RhinoBond stand-up induction tool.
Brown said the biggest challenge was the occupants’ safety and maintaining a watertight building. “The building occupants worked well with us so everything went very smoothly,” he remarked.
“Due to the size of the installation there was some maneuvering of materials, but nothing really major,” stated Peterson. “Fortunately the fall weather was also cooperative, although another advantage of the RhinoBond system is that there are no temperature restrictions, so you can have a quality installation even in colder weather.”
“Greenwood Industries’ work on this project was excellent,” Nichols said. “They had some tight deadlines but completed everything in a very timely manner with no issues whatsoever. It is tough to find a contractor who consistently does good workmanship, but Greenwood does.”
Today the roof is performing well and everyone is happy. “This was a great project all around, mostly because of the players involved,” remarked Brown. “The OMG Roofing Products team was excellent, and their products are superior to any other fastening products. Sika Corporation also played a role in this successful installation, and I consider their Sarnafil membrane to be top of the line.”
The customer is also pleased. “To my knowledge Anheuser Busch is very happy with the RhinoBond and Sarnafil system,” Nichols said. “They have used this system on several warehouses and most of the future metal roof retrofits they have on tap are specified around this roofing system.”
Sounds like a roofing system fit for a king.