Star Cinema Grill: 45,000 SF Over Mod Bit, and Not One Show Cancelled

The challenge

A cinema is the hardest kind of building to work above, and the reason is noise rather than water. Once the doors open, anything loud on the roof lands in a dark, quiet auditorium full of paying customers. So the job ran on the theatre’s clock: loud work started early and stopped at 11:30 in the morning, when the first showings began, and the rest of the day was reserved for work that nobody downstairs could hear.

Water is unforgiving here too — every auditorium is full of projection and sound equipment, and an audience will never forgive a leak — but the schedule on this job was set by sound.

The deck was dense with rooftop mechanical equipment, and the existing modified bitumen had worn to the point where its granular surface was no longer protecting the asphalt below it.

What we did

We restored the existing mod bit roof in place with a fluid-applied system across all 45,000 square feet. Every unit, curb, support and drain on that crowded deck was detailed into the system.

The choice to restore rather than replace was driven by the building's operation as much as by the roof's condition. A tear-off over a live auditorium means an open deck over a dark room full of equipment — not a risk worth taking when the existing membrane is sound enough to serve as a base.

Because the system is fluid-applied, there is also no mechanical fastening and no torch work over an occupied assembly space. That matters in a theatre more than almost anywhere.

Why it matters

The theatre kept operating. Not a single showing was disrupted, no debris moved through public areas, and 45,000 square feet of roofing stayed out of a landfill.

And the finished white surface takes real load off the HVAC system in a building that has to hold a lot of dark, full rooms at a comfortable temperature through a Houston summer.

One note on upkeep: a white roof only saves energy while it stays white. Houston air puts dirt on a reflective surface over time, so plan on washing the roof every four to five years to hold it 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 · harvestroofs.com