New profile from New Tech Machinery tops South Carolina school
BLUFFTON, N.C. (April 20, 2015) – Architects learn a lot in 40 years. That knowledge proves very beneficial to their clients. “We will not design a school without a metal roof,” says Jimmy Hite, AIA, NCARB, LEED AP, of Hite Associates in Greenville, N.C. “We believe that a standing seam metal roof is the only real permanent solution for public school districts.”
A standing seam metal roof system, manufactured on site by Construction Metal Products of Statesville, N.C., and installed by Eastern Corporation of Youngsville, N.C., covers the New River Ridge Academy School in Bluffton, N.C. More than 177,000 square feet of Slate Gray metal roofing covers the school.
Mike Roux, sales manager at Construction Metal Products, says panel production started in-house in November 2014. “Some of the extremely long panels we ran at the job site,” he says. “Some were well over 70 feet long. We shipped some that long, but we decided to send the machine down there to run some panels.”
Construction Metal Panels has been running metal roofing panels for customers since 1994. This was one of the first projects to feature the SSQ275 New Lock Panel – a 2-inch high 17-1/2-inch wide panel. This new profile is able to meet the wind uplift requirements along the South Carolina coast because it is a snap-lock panel that can be mechanically seamed.
“It’s easy to install because it’s a snap-lock panel, installers like it,” Roux says. “Then you go back and seam it once. It’s not a double-lock, you don’t seam it twice, so that saves labor cost. It’s all about savings, savings, savings.”
Roux believes this profile will help set Construction Metal Products apart from its competition. Representatives from Construction Metal Products attend METALCON annually to find products and services that can set them apart from the competition. “There are so many sheep out there,” Roux says. “We’re looking for anything unique that will be beneficial to the end-user, beneficial to the installer and/or beneficial to the architect.”
Roux hopes to attend METALCON in Tampa, Fla., October 14-16, but he knows someone from Construction Metal Products will be there.
Construction Metal Products manufactures panels mostly for institutional, commercial and military projects. Roux thinks the SSQ275 New Lock Panel offers end-users and architects a panel that meets any and all wind uplift requirements and it helps the installer offer a more price-competitive metal roofing system because of the savings on labor.
More than 90 percent of the projects by Hite Associates are K-12 public schools. Metal offers green benefits – recyclability, reflectivity, emissivity – but for Hite, it’s all about the durability without problems. It’s a permanent roof.
“All that’s nice,” he says about metal’s environmentally friendly benefits, “but for an architect, the way to eliminate the most problems for school maintenance people and for school administrations is to give them the best roof. Standing seam metals roof have been around a lot longer than the different systems introduced in the last century and it’s still the best way to cover a building.”
Hite also insists the roofs have an overhang ranging from 3-4 feet to extend the lives of the walls by keeping them dry, protecting them from weather.
About METALCON: For more information on exhibiting at METALCON International in Tampa, Fla., on October 14-16, 2015. For more information, visit www.metalcon.com.
