S-5!, a Colorado Springs, CO-based maker of zero-penetration clamps that attach ancillary items to standing seam metal roofs, recently relaunched its website. This website features the company’s Master Snow Retention Calculator, an online tool designed to help building owners, architects, specifiers, contractors, and roofers determine which snow retention system would work most effectively for their roofs. More than 150 metal roofing manufacturers are listed on the site as compatible components with S-5! systems. Projects also may obtain an Engineered Stamp on the site for ColorGard certifications run through the calculator.
In Golden, CO, a new Genesee Water Treatment Facility utilized the S-5! Master Snow Retention Calculator in planning the installation of a snow retention system on its metal roof. This location sees an average of 84″ of snow annually. The calculator helped the project team to determine that S-5’s DualGard product (introduced in 2016) was the best system for this project, which was completed in March 2017.
“We plugged in the information, the roof surface, slope and dimensions and the allowable load and it spit out what we needed,” says Bret Gellrein, the project manager for general contractor RN Civil Construction of Centennial, CO. “It made the whole process easier. We knew we were going to need something a little beefier in this area, the engineers were pleased with the numbers and it looks great. Everyone is pleased with the result.”
Lori Hanson, AIA, LEED AP BD+C, of Eidos Architects in Greenwood Village CO, says the Snow Retention Calculator is one of the first steps of the design process, including when designing the Genesee Water Treatment Facility. “When we know we’ll be using snow retention, we start with the calculator,” she says. “It helps us during the bidding process, providing the most accurate information. It lets us know what we’ll need for the project and what our costs will be.”
Jim “J.D.” Davis, project manager for MB Sheet Metal of Commerce City, CO, installed the standing seam metal roofing as well as the DualGard snow retention system from S-5!. Panels were formed on site with coil from Sheffield Metals. MB Sheet Metal also installed the flush metal soffit panels.
The facility’s roof is 11,500 square feet of 16-inch double lock 1 1/2″ standing seam in medium bronze. Four rows of DualGard were installed (600 linear feet in all), meeting snow load requirements for the Denver suburb. Most of the roof is a relatively low-slope 3:12 pitch, while several segments are 6:12.
During the first two months after the DualGard was installed, Genesee was hit with three heavy spring snowfalls. And the snow retention system performed as expected.
To access the Calculator on the S-5! website, creating a login account is required.
