The challenge
Triflex have teamed up with Ashley Consultants UK Limited and Triflex Authorised Contractor, Concept Roofing & Cladding Services, to completely refurbish four roofs at St. Simon Stock Catholic School in Maidstone, Kent.
The roofs of the mixed secondary school and sixth form with academy status were in urgent need of renovation as the existing mineral felt and asphalt waterproofing solutions were failing, allowing water to ingress into the classrooms, kitchen and dining hall below. The previously installed mineral felt had been subjected to ponding water over a number of years causing the membrane to degrade, and the asphalt had developed a number of defects including cracking and ruckling. The thermal performance of the roofs also needed to be upgraded as the minimum requirements of Part L2B of the Building Regulations were not being met.
Due to the complexity of the project each roof required a tailored solution. Triflex worked in close conjunction with Ashley Consultants UK and Concept Roofing & Cladding to ensure that the right solution was chosen. This was done through intensive surveying and testing including U-value, and condensation risk analysis calculations. This was especially critical for the roof containing the kitchen below, as an incorrectly specified solution could have had adverse effects on a high condensation area such as this.
The solution
Ashley Consultants UK specified that there were to be no hot works carried out on site in order to minimise health and safety risks and eliminate the significant risk of fire associated with their use. Triflex were easily able to meet this requirement as all Triflex systems utilise cold liquid applied technology which does not require hot works. This also allowed installation to be carried out during term time whilst the building was fully occupied, with no disruption to the everyday operation of the school.
Triflex ProTect warm roof system and Triflex ProDetail were extensively used on the project. In many cases it was possible to overlay the previous substrate, resulting in a fast installation with minimum disruption.
Where issues with ponding water had previously been apparent, new gutters and outlets were created using cut to falls insulation to enable the water to drain away. Furthermore, the Triflex solution is hydrolysis resistant, so if there were to be issues with ponding water in the future it would have no adverse effect on the waterproofing. Triflex ProDetail was used to waterproof various details, including upstands and new roof lights which had also been installed. Lastly, the incorporation of the insulation within the warm roof build-up provided the required improvement in thermal performance and energy efficiency.
