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TMS Roof Fit for a Warehouse
By Linda Hall, Torrington
 | | These photos illustrating the construction of the TMS roof were included in Dr. Riccio's report. |
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The report dealing with specific roof design issues at the Torrington Middle School is here! Guess what? Based on the professional opinion of Dr. Lstiburek, "the design of the roof assembly is not suitable for a permanent institutional facility such as a school. The problems associated with rain leakage through the roof assembly since initial occupancy support this opinion. The roof design used at the Torrington Middle School is more appropriate for a temporary structure or for a warehouse.
"The design of the roof assembly is fundamentally flawed in that a roofing membrane supported by a roof deck is not installed under the metal roofing panels. Metal roofing panels are known to leak due to thermal expansion/ contraction and fastener/ hold down penetration issues. As such, a secondary line of protection is traditionally used with metal roofing systems used in permanent structures such as institutional facilitates. The secondary line of protection typically employed is a membrane supported by a roof deck installed under the metal roofing system. This was not done at the Torrington Middle School. The approach used compared to the approach that should have been used is schematically presented in Figure 1."
In his letter addressed to School Superintendent Riccio, Dr. Lstiburek goes on to say: "The approach used is further flawed in that screw fasteners are used in an exposed manner and penetrate the primary rain control layer—the metal roofing panels. Since only a primary rain control layer is provided in the assembly used at the Torrington Middle School—no secondary line of protection using a roofing membrane under the metal roofing panels was provided—any penetration through the primary rain control layer that leaks leads directly to rain entry and failure of the roofing system.
Dr. Lstiburek further states: "This roof should have never been built. It is a large, complex roof with numerous exposed screw penetrations with no secondary line of protection. The combination of a secondary roofing membrane under the metal roofing panels combined with blind fasteners would have resulted in an appropriate design for an institutional facility such as the Torrington Middle School and would have avoided the problems currently being experienced with rainwater leakage through the roof assembly."
So, now what? We are going through the motions with some repairs, which we all know will not make the roof watertight. Our children and teachers deserve to be housed in a building with a real roof. Isn't anyone concerned about the structure of this roof?
I recently read about the distribution center that will be coming to Torrington by June 2003, which is expected to create about 100 jobs. Actually, this was said to be "the best thing to happen Torrington in 20 years." The following day there was a story in the paper reporting the result of the TMS roof construction analysis, which called this roof "more appropriate for a warehouse."
Since a distribution center is a warehouse, I had a great idea. The builders/ designers of the new distribution center could take the TMS roof. Consequently, the Middle School could get a roof that would finally serve its main purpose: to keep out the elements of weather, such as rain. Maybe some of the local companies could even offer their expertise and services, since their involvement (or lack of involvement) originated in 1993.
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