2017
Irvine, California
Sika Sarnafil Project Stays on Point
Despite Project Changes
It seems like it’s “always something” with roof installations. When it came to the installation of the 238,400 square-foot roofs on the new Five Point Gateway Campus, those “somethings” included 114 change orders, unique roofing system details, and historically bad weather. Fortunately, the professionalism of Red Pointe Roofing (RPR) of Orange, California, combined with the technical support and roofing products from Sika Sarnafil, made the installation a success.
Project
Five Point Gateway Campus
Irvine, California
Owner
Five Point Holdings, LLC
Roofing Contractor
Red Pointe Roofing
Orange, California
Building Envelope Consultant
D 7 Consulting Inc.
Newport Beach, California
General Contractor
DPR Construction
San Diego, California
Project Size
238,400 sq ft.
A Robust Roofing System
The Five Point Gateway Campus consists of four buildings – two five-story lab/office buildings and two core and shell buildings --totaling 1.06 million square feet. The project sits on seventy-three acres in Irvine, California and is expected to be a business magnet to the area for the next decade.
Sika Sarnafil worked with Joe Daniels, president of D 7 Consulting of Newport Beach, California, the building envelope consultant on the project; and a representative of Gensler Architecture to design a robust roofing system. The final roof specification called for an adheredSarnafil G 410 80 mil membrane in Energy Star white, taperedSarnatherm insulation, ½ inch gypsum cover board, and Sarnaclad for flashing and sheet metal detailing.
The roofing system used two types of attachment methods for the insulation boards—adhered to the structural concrete substrate using Sarnacol 2142S, and mechanical fastening at the plaza canopy and penthouse steel decks. The tapered insulation and gypsum board were set in low rise foam and the field membrane adhered with Sarnacol 2121 water-based adhesive. The lower canopy decks that were visible from the upper floor levels received HDPE protection membrane and were finished with a decorative ballast river rock. Sarnatred walkways were also installed in designated high traffic areas.
CH-CH-CH-CH-Changes
Changes may have been a hit song for David Bowie, but changes weren’t a hit for RPR during this project. “The number of design changes on this job was staggering,” said Oscar Sepulveda, the Sika Sarnafilrepresentative on the project. “RPR responded to these changes promptly and professionally, never letting them affect the construction schedule or quality of the installation.”
“There were 114 or 115 change orders during the project, and it was a full-time job just tracking the drawing and design changes and working with D 7 Consulting to make sure all changes were fully understood and communicated to the general contractor and the RPR staff,” explained Tony Clifford, project manager at RPR. “Many of the changes involved the inclusion of large mechanical units due to the needs of new tenants. Fortunately, Sika Sarnafil representative Oscar was very helpful and responsive to field issues that arose from these changes.”
John Kay, project manager at DPR Construction of San Diego, the general contractor, remarked, “Tony Clifford was a very good project manager when it came to the change orders – very accurate and responsive.”
It's All in the Details
RPR also had to deal with some unique details as well as construction schedules when installing the new roof. “The biggest challenge was the sequence of construction,” said Daniels. “There were tons of equipment and lots of pipes and ductwork that traveled all around the building, so RPR had to wait for all the other trades to finish before they could complete the roof,” he explained.
The detailing complexity of the roof cannot be overstated, requiring an average of five layers of adhered cover board and a fully tapered application. The project required 100,00 square feet of vertical flashing, 45,000 linear feet of termination bars, 3,000 corners, and the flashing of 4,000 penetrations.
One of the most unique details of the roofing system was the fully encapsulated twelve-foot-high penthouse walls. Originally designed to be stucco walls, it was decided instead to use full membrane encapsulation to reduce long term maintenance costs and provided fire-rated walls that would be included in the overall system warranty. “This was very unique, and something I had never seen before,” Kay said. “We will probably do this again in the future as it eliminated bringing in another trade.”
Rain, Rain, Go Away
As if the change orders and unique details didn’t cause enough disruptions, RPR also had to deal with Mother Nature. The majority of the roof work took place during the winter of 2017, one of the wettest in Southern California history. On one particularly rainy day, RPR was the only trade partner that showed up to the Jobsite. “We had to work some weekends to make up for days lost to the weather,” Clifford stated.
“We were very clear to RPR that the roof absolutely had to be completed on schedule, and despite all obstacles, it was,” Daniels commented. “Fortunately Red Pointe’s ability to adapt and be flexible was one of their strong points. Tony and John Patterson at Red Pointe really make things happen.”
It was this dedication and professionalism that earned Red Pointe Roofing second place in the Low Slope Category of Sika Sarnafil’s 2017 Project of the Year competition. “With some roofing companies this job would’ve been a nightmare,” Daniels stated. “Red Pointe had the wherewithal to deal with the complexity of this project, and knew how to solve problems to create a watertight roof that still met the warranty criteria.”
Five Stars For Five Points
“Today the roof is doing great and everyone is very happy with it overall,” Daniels remarked. “We are especially happy with how it looks. It’s one of the best jobs we’ve done in a long time.”
“I’d give the design team and Red Pointe five out of five stars,” Kay added. “They were total professionals in every respect.”
“These are the types of jobs we like to go after,” Clifford said. “I think the Sarnafil membrane is a superior membrane, and the Sika Sarnafil technical support and design team help us get the client the roofing system they want.”