The structure of a home doesn't always lend itself to just any type of roofing material. That was the case with the Thain residence in Washington. The torch down roof on the six-year-old home was leaking and causing problems for the owners. Water was ponding on many areas of the roof, which is made up of 13 individual sections. It just couldn’t handle the saturation. To make matters worse, the ventilation wasn’t functioning and that was trapping more moist air from the inside. A new system needed to be created to match the building construction with the proper materials.
“This was a case of form over function,” said Tim Johnson from Just Roofs Inc. in Issaquah, Washington. He inspected the home and submitted a bid for the job. At the same time, the homeowners were in the process of another remodeling project inside the home. They had come across mold and wanted to ensure a new roof wouldn't trap an existing problem inside. The versatility of IB Roof Systems often allows for a new roof to be installed over the top of the current one. But that just wasn’t an option with this homes track record.
Tim Johnson and Jeff Clark of Just Roofs, Inc. designed a new roof for the Thain residence with the help of IB Roof Systems Sales Representative Shawn Nolte. According to Nolte, “My goal was to promote positive drainage and maintainan impervious seal from one section of the roof to another, without compromising the unique look of the home.” To reach that objective would require incorporating custom flashings and through wall drains. The existing torch down roofing material would need to be removed in order to reveal the damage caused by six years of water infiltration and no ventilation.
Work on the Thain residence got underway in mid-September of 2002. Jeff Clark says they started on the roof section by section, investigating for signs of mold and structural damage. He says they found plenty, “Many areas had mold, there was extensive mold in the parapet walls. In some cases there were four different colors of mold.” Some sections of the parapet wall were being held together by only the exterior stucco wall construction and the inside torch down material. The wood has rotted away. Clark says the problem was the original torch down roof could not sustain the ponding water. Combining that with poor ventilation created a perfect environment for the mold to grow.
That’s what made IB Roof Systems the best fit for this home. IB Rep Shawn Nolte says it’s designed for just this type of situation, “IB is a flat roof system designed to handle flat roof problems, pure and simple. We have a 25-year track record of competent installation with no failures.” IB membrane is formulated to withstand pounding water. It won’t affect the performance of the roof or the warranty.
Where mold and dry rot were found on the Thain residence, new materials were put in place. The Just Roofs team rebuilt over one hundred feet of parapet walls. The new roof was then installed, including a vapor barrier and Poly-iso insulation. IB Roof Systems 50 mil tan membrane was mechanically attached and the new ventilation system, designed by Tim Johnson, completed the roof. Johnson said, “IB really came through and overcame these problems. It is the only material that could permit us to do the degree of detail work this roof required and allowed us the flexibility to create a truly effective ventilation system. IB is the only material that can do that and offer a lifetime warranty.”
Now the Thain family is resting easy. In a letter to Just Roofs they said, “Your company went above and beyond what any other roofing company could have done and I greatly appreciate your honesty, integrity and craftsmanship. Our project was a challenge...your team was skilled and capable to address the issues.” Working together IB Roof Systems and Just Roofs assembled a roofing system to work with the architectural design of the Thain home, rather than against it.
