ENGINE READY
Hattiesburg, MS
The Kohler Company is one of America’s oldest and largest privately held companies, and KOHLER Engines serves as the second largest industrial manufacturer in Hattiesburg, Mississippi.
Kohler was first recruited to the area more than 20 years ago and has manufactured gasoline engines primarily for residential lawn mowers since that time.
In March of 2019, Kohler announced the consolidation of their North American facilities to Hattiesburg from Wisconsin, and with it 250 more jobs for Mississippians. This also included roof renovations at a newly leased facility that were performed by E. Cornell Malone Corporation in 2020.
This project was impressive from the sheer size of the project. Malone installed 500,000 square feet (5000 sqs) of roof material over the manufacturing area, and an additional 70,000 square feet (700 sqs) over the plant’s office and administrative spaces.
The pre-roofing preparation involved demolition of 182 skylights on section 1 from the curbs. Then cut 1’ around each curb and demolish the curb entirely down to the metal substrate.
Our crews then mechanically attached a 20 GA metal deck (Type B) into a metal joist to close in the skylight hole. The bottom of each deck was then painted white, and then the top primed. Next, our team, attached one 2” layer of ISO insulation to fill area back up to consistent level as the rest of the roof.
Furthermore, we cleaned the existing membrane and welded a new 45 mil TPO roof membrane over skylight hole. In the recovery installation phase we sliced existing single-ply membrane into 10’ grids, the inspected the existing insulation and removed and replaced any insulation that was damaged or contained moisture.
Once those steps were complete, our team mechanically attached a 1” ISO insulation to steel deck followed by mechanically attaching a 60 mil TPO roof membrane system.
Then flash penetrations and flashing areas were installed with matching 60 mil TPO membrane and in accordance with manufacturer’s standard details. At the building perimeters on the manufacturing area, we removed and replaced new ES-1 metal from Metal Era.
We continued at the building perimeters over the office space by removing and replacing existing metal coping with new 24 GA coping to match existing profile. Colors were chosen by Kohler that were directly from the manufacturer’s standard color charts.
In closing, we installed walk pads at approximately the same layout of existing walk pads. Our company also provides a manufacturer’s 20-year labor and material warranty, a contractor’s 1-year warranty, and removed and installed lightning protection.
This fast-paced roofing project spanned from March through June of 2020. OSHA Safety regulations were followed to perfection while the plant was able to continue day-to-day operations.