Page Mill Road in Palo Alto is often called the cradle of Silicon Valley, with an array of venture firms, bankers, and financial institutions up and down the block.
The buildings on the campus at 755 Page Mill Road house many of those businesses, along with residential apartments, and are familiar to Bigham Taylor’s crew since they’ve reroofed two other buildings on the site.
When BT Senior Project Manager Paul Hemsath arrived, he found a clay tile roof that was in poor condition. “Tiles and mortar were sliding down the roof,” he reports, “which created a safety hazard for pedestrians walking around the building and walking on their patios.”
Given the condition of the roof, the project started in a hurry and had a hard deadline.
At the same time, noise was a concern for businesses in the building and surrounding area, as well as residents who work from home.
In addition to a regular cadence of meetings and communication, BT crews worked on weekends to ensure tenants weren’t impacted by the work and all “noisy” work was done on Fridays and Saturdays to accommodate everyone.
“Before we started, we had multiple site meetings to review potential issues with noise, patio safety, scaffolding locations, and other jobsite logistics,” Paul says. “We met with the client, superintendent, and safety superintendent early and often.
“During the job,” he continues, “there were multiple site meetings to ensure progress was tracking, installation was correct, noise complaints were being addressed immediately, rooftop safety was set correctly, scaffolding was adequate, and patio safety was working as intended with the residential tenants.”
BT addressed any noise complaint immediately by shutting the crew down for the day and shifting operations to a different section the following day. Work was completed on the section that raised concerns on a Friday or Saturday.
Beyond noise complaints, BT crews installed extensive safety protection around and inside the residential patios within the roof area to protect tenants during the active roofing work.
“Jose Reyes, our project superintendent, designed temporary sliding wood panel doors, and our crew installed them,” Paul explains. “We added additional railings around all the patios to ensure nobody could easily leave the patio and walk into the active roofing project.”
Working on a steep-sloped building brings its own challenges for crew fall-protection safety measures, and lift equipment was not allowed on the courtyard side of the building. So, BT set up scaffolding along the entire length of the building on the courtyard side.
The failure of the original roof system — mortar and tile— was a major factor in the reroofing requirement. So, BT’s team looked for a new installation method that would provide the client with longevity and safety.
“We wanted to go beyond the industry standard,” Paul says. “So, we installed more mortar in a wider field under the tile and had a sheet metal mesh added for additional reinforcement to prevent cracking, since that’s what led to small pieces breaking off and sliding off the roof onto patios, sidewalks, or driveways around the building.”
To match the look of the other two buildings, BT used US Tile standard weight 1-piece “S” tile in Newport Blend color from Westlake Royal Roofing over Westlake Royal TileSeal HT self-adhered, high-temperature rated underlayment.
Paul credits the BT crew for its quick response to any noise or safety concerns and additional work requests. Reyes, Jr. and the client’s team met regularly, and the safety superintendent designed and executed a strong safety plan to keep the crew and tenants safe throughout the project.
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