Gulf States Toyota: 109,000 SF of R-Panel Metal, Coated End to End

The challenge

109,000 square feet is about two and a half acres of roof. On an R-panel metal building that translates into tens of thousands of exposed fasteners, miles of side and end laps, and a deck that expands and contracts with every temperature swing. Each one of those is a potential leak, and the building moves under them every day.

Underneath it is a working distribution operation. Vehicles and inventory do not tolerate water, and the facility does not shut down for a roof.

What we did

We restored the roof in place. Every fastener was detailed and every horizontal seam was reinforced with fabric, because the seams and the fasteners are where a metal roof moves and where it leaks. The full 109,000 square feet then received the reflective fluid-applied coating. The fabric goes only where it is needed — at the seams — rather than across two and a half acres of panel.

On metal, flexibility is the requirement rather than a nice-to-have. The panels expand and contract with every temperature swing, so the coating and the seam reinforcement have to move with the deck instead of fighting it. That is what keeps the laps and fastener heads sealed through the thermal cycling a Houston roof sees every single day.

The facility never stopped. Pulling 109,000 square feet of metal panel off an operating distribution building would have meant scheduling around inventory and vehicles that cannot be exposed to weather; restoring in place meant our crews worked above the operation while it ran.

Why it matters

No panels came off, nothing went to a landfill, and the owner kept the deck they already had.

At this scale the reflectivity matters more than anywhere else on this list. Bare metal under Houston sun radiates heat straight down into the building. Two and a half acres of white, reflective surface changes the thermal behavior of the whole facility.

One note on upkeep: a reflective roof only keeps paying while it stays reflective. Two and a half acres of white surface will pick up Houston dirt, so plan on washing it every four to five years to hold the roof at maximum reflectivity and efficiency.

Have a roof like this one?

Harvest restores commercial roofs across the Houston area — fluid-applied roofing and waterproofing over metal, single ply, modified bitumen and gravel-surfaced built-up systems. If your roof is aging and you want to know what it actually needs, we will come look at it.

Harvest · (281) 259-7099 · office@teamhis.com