A retrofitting renaissance

By Emma Peterson.

Metal roof and wall retrofitting is on the rise, learn why!

Retrofitting has become an increasingly popular option when extending the life of a building’s metal roof and/or walls. In a new episode of MetalCast, Heidi J. Ellsworth got the chance to talk to Rodger Russ about the rise of this solution. Rodger is a metal roofing and retrofitting expert with almost four decades of experience in the industry. He got his start in the 1980s as a sheet metal worker. Since then, he has worked a variety of jobs in the metal sector, including as a general contractor and an installer. Today, Rodger is the metal business leader and industry advocate at Tremco Roofing.  

Rodger started the conversation by sharing some background information on what exactly is happening when you retrofit a metal roof or wall. He explained, “Retrofitting by definition basically means you adding something to a product or an item or a building that was not part of the original design when the building or product was originally produced.” In terms of the roof, retrofitting generally refers to building a new roofing system over the old, rather than the traditional tear-off process.

So why is retrofitting on the rise right now? Rodger shared some thoughts, saying, “Retrofitting is becoming more and more prevalent and a big part of that is the education of the design community. People are finding out that you don't necessarily have to tear things apart, and there are benefits to not doing that.” From safety considerations to cost-effectiveness, roof and wall retrofits are a great option for a lot of spaces. There is also a sustainability factor playing into the retrofitting renaissance. Rodger elaborated, “Let's look at pre-engineered metal buildings as an example. They were built as barns or just to have a single skin in a warehouse. Then somebody buys that building and they want to repurpose it for offices and the like, but the energy code has changed. We used to build things before with hardly any insulation and now if you change your building in any way, you need to upgrade the thermal efficiency. So how does one accomplish all that? Retrofitting.”  

Not only does it add to thermal efficiency and bring the space up to more modern, sustainable code, retrofitting offers an easy way to improve the aesthetic appearance of a space at the same time. Rodger explained, “It's not uncommon for a building to be built with a particular purpose in mind. And over time the neighborhood around it changes or the purpose of the building changes and somebody wants to update that look. And so retrofitting not only the walls, but even the roof is very prevalent these days and you can literally change the appearance.”

Read the transcript or Listen to the episode to learn how to tell if a building is a good candidate for a retrofit.