Building Overview
- The Pete V. Domenici Federal Courthouse is located in the central business district of Albuquerque, New Mexico. Constructed in 1998, the building sits seven stories high and contains over 200 federal employees, including U.S. Marshals, District Courts, Pretrial, and Probation services.
- The Courthouse is a promoter of the GSA’s Art-in-Architecture Program, which aims to enhance the civic meaning of federal architecture by showcasing American visual arts. Therefore, the Courthouse features many beautiful pieces of artwork by famous artists known around the region and throughout the nation.
The Challenge
- Unfortunately, the roof of this seven-story landmark had been leaking for several years and water was dripping into the chambers of the Federal Judges, disrupting their work. Due to budgetary restrictions, the GSA could not afford to remove the existing roof and replace it with an entirely new one.
Solution
- RoofCARE and Payne Consulting, Inc., satisfied the need for a leak-free, maintainable roofing system through the strategic use of HydroStop PremiumCoat® Roof System. PremiumCoat® is a fully adhered, reinforced-acrylic elastomeric roof system that will never need to be removed or replaced. Every 15, 20, or 25 years, the top layers of PremiumCoat® FinishCoat can be reapplied, creating a roof system that will last the life of the building. HydroStop™ products for this specific job not only fulfilled the requirement for a long-lasting roof, they also complied with the GSA’s commitment to sustainability, making PremiumCoat® the perfect solution to this situation.
- The existing courthouse roof was a twelve-year-old modified cap sheet that had many leaks, most of which originated at the pitch pans or resulted from ponding water near the roof drains. The hundreds of pitch pans on the roof encapsulate screen wall supports. To address them, the sheet metal caps were removed and a mix of BarrierGuard® and HydroFiber was used to fill the void. This procedure not only made the pitch pans watertight, it also created a cant for positive water flow. After the penetrations and details were addressed, the fluid-applied nature of the PremiumCoat® System allowed the crew to fully encapsulate the entire roof, details, and base flashings in one seamless membrane.
Key Facts
- As a Federal Courthouse, the security component of this job was an extremely important consideration. RoofCARE and Payne Consulting, Inc., had to coordinate work efforts around the court’s schedule. The crew of four to five men worked on the roof for five months, and the courts required 72-hour notice before any crew members could visit the roof.
- The roofing project was completed in conjunction with the renovation of three gaf.com rooftop-cooling towers, which further complicated the production process.
