Located in historic Healdsburg, just north of San Francisco in stunning Sonoma wine country, Hotel Healdsburg welcomes guests with its beautifully appointed rooms, artisanal spaces, luxurious spa, and country gardens. The hotel is just minutes away from some of the world’s finest vineyards, and, with its incredible location and offerings, the property attracts and serves guests year-round.
Atop Hotel Healdsburg sits two built-up roofs with a granular surface — most likely the hotel’s original roof as well as another over it. Recently, roof leaks and damage had begun to emerge, necessitating a solution.
Of course, a complete re-roof was a legitimate option, though it would have proved costly and time-consuming as a likely six- to eight-week project. Additionally, as a year-round travel destination, one of the hotel owner’s biggest concerns was disruption to room reservations. Thus, an expedited fix was preferred.
Instead of a complete re-roof, the multi-award-winning Wedge Roofing company recommended a restoration and coating solution.
“We knew a complete re-roof wasn’t necessary at this juncture and it would have seriously impacted hotel operations and revenues,” says Gary Harvey, SPFA professionally certified president and CEO of Wedge Roofing. “When the client agreed to our restoration recommendation, we committed to getting the project done for them in under two weeks.”
Wedge Roofing’s solution for the 25,000-square-foot roof surface was Thermo-Sil NP High Solids Silicone Roof Coating, a Huntsman Building Solutions option that extends the life of the roof. A single-component, moisture-curing silicone rubber roof coating system, Thermo-Sil NP provides a continuous, tough membrane that is both flexible and integral to the structure itself.
“This coating allowed us to recondition, preserve and extend the life and performance of the existing roof,” adds Harvey. “We used 60 mils of it and applied granules over it.”
Challenging Application
In addition to the need for speed of application, Wedge Roofing’s crew was faced with other challenges during application. One was confined access to 1,500 square feet of the roof. Another was dealing with numerous cellular arrays on the roof.
“The hotel is in a central location in Healdsburg and cellular services, including EMS, are routed and coordinated through multiple carrier arrays on its rooftop,” says Harvey. “Coordination of the commissioning and decommissioning of those arrays was absolutely critical because there are no additional cell towers in the immediate area. This became the first and last task every day on the jobsite and, for this, we worked in close collaboration with the cellular technicians, of course.”
For the duration of the project, one cellular array remained commissioned to handle minimal cellular traffic and EMS communications, while the remaining three arrays were decommissioned for safety. Not only was a permit required, but a rescue plan was as well.
To address a rescue plan, the crew leveraged a four-wheel automated dolly which provided access to the confined areas of the roof. Ropes used with the cart allowed some crew members — who laid on their stomachs on the dolly to complete the retrofit — to be pulled and moved to other areas by their teammates. In total, Wedge’s crew members spent 180 hours working on their stomachs in the confined space located beneath a mezzanine.
“This project required an extraction plan,” says Harvey. “If there was ever an issue, that plan would have allowed us to extract the team members on the dolly within 30 seconds, without posing any harm to them or those facilitating the extraction. Use of the dolly was key because it dramatically reduced the time spent accessing and working within these confined spaces, while simultaneously meeting the critically important confined space rescue plan criteria.”
Wedge Roofing also had access to the roof of the busy hotel via the street, over the sidewalk. “All of our materials were pumped over the sidewalk and up the front of the building,” says Harvey. “We sleeved the hose from the vehicle to the rooftop and covered the side of the building where the hose met it.”
In lieu of a complete reroof, Wedge’s restoration solution ultimately cut the project budget in half. “Not only was the client happy with the cost-effectiveness of the silicone, but they’ll also enjoy the restoration’s robust, lengthy performance,” adds Harvey.
Wedge Roofing took home an SPFA National Industry Excellence Award earlier this year for its team’s work on Hotel Healdsburg. In addition to Harvey, SPFA professionally certified installers Fortino Juarez and Ralph Wedge helped make it possible, along with Victor Ceja, Omar Cuevas, Benedicto Penaloza, Gaspar Penaloza, Guillermo Martinez, and Juan Hernandez Valle.
“Anytime we as an industry can prevent tear off and instead restore and extend the life of an existing roof, we are keeping materials out of the landfill, contributing to a sustainable future and helping the planet,” says Al Kennedy, president of Cal Roofing Supply, Wedge Roofing’s supplier for the project. “This is something we can all be proud of.”
About the author: Keith Stevenson is Vice President of Sales, North America with Huntsman Building Solutions, a leader in high-performance spray polyurethane foam roofing and coatings systems. For more information, email [email protected] or visit huntsmanbuildingsolutions.com.
TEAM
Roofing Contractor: Wedge Roofing, Sonoma County, California, wedgeroofing.com
MATERIALS
Coating System: Thermo-Sil NP High Solids Silicone Roof Coating, Huntsman Building Solutions, huntsmanbuildingsolutions.com.
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