School’s sprawling metal roof protects students, saves money

The new, sprawling 135,000-sq.-ft. Walton Middle School in Defuniak Springs, Fla., not only welcomes its 600-plus students with a great new look, but is built to withstand the challenging hurricane-prone Panhandle environment.

Approximately 125,000 sq. ft. of Petersen’s PAC-CLAD 24 gauge Tite-Loc Plus Panels meet code requirements, but even better, they saved significant money versus a competitive mechanically seamed profile that originally was specified. In addition, 14,000 sq. ft. of PAC-CLAD Flush Panels were used in soffit applications. All panels were finished in Cool Color Sandstone and manufactured at Petersen’s Acworth, Ga., plant.

The roofing contractor was Edwards Roofing Co. in Pensacola. According to project manager and estimator Steve Miller, the job initially was spec’d to use a competitive panel, but the cost came in significantly over budget. “I checked with Petersen to see what they could do,” Miller said. “We cut the cost by more than $250,000 by using the 24 gauge Tite-Loc Plus Panels. And the job went very smoothly considering its size. There really weren’t any challenges, but my guys are pretty good.”

Edwards Roofing has several other jobs underway using PAC-CLAD profiles. “Petersen is the major supplier of our roof panels. They also provided shop drawings and engineering on this project,” he said.

Tite-Loc Plus Panels are factory-formed to length and field-seamed to a 180-degree lock. The panels are designed for application over a wide variety of substrates on roof slopes as low as ½:12 pitch.

Architectural design for the project was created by Elliott Marshall Innes Architects in Tallahassee, Fla.

The general contractor was Lord & Son in Destin, Fla. The Petersen distributor on the project was Roofers Mart in Pensacola/Birmingham.