Educated roofing

Located in the center of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, Ishpeming Public School District serves about 700 students who attend elementary, middle or high school. Established in 1868, Ishpeming Public School District’s mission is to prepare all students to be self-motivated, responsible and productive citizens in a rapidly changing world.

During 2023-24, the school district undertook a project to replace the roof systems on a building complex that combines Ishpeming’s middle and high schools. NRCA member Dan Perkins Construction Inc., Ishpeming, Mich., was selected as the roofing contractor to install a new batten-seam copper roof system.

Partners in time

During the past two decades, Dan Perkins Construction has collaborated with Ishpeming Public School District on many community projects (see “Service beyond roofing”), including two free roofs through Dan Perkins Construction’s annual ritual of donating a free roof on a community structure.

“We donated and installed a standard standing-seam roof system on the playing field pavilion and concession stand one year, and we put a copper roof system on the Art Park Pavilion at the school a few years later,” says Dan Perkins, president of Dan Perkins Construction.

When the school district’s larger roofs needed replacing, administrators called on Perkins.

“Because of our long-term, interwoven relationships with Ishpeming Public School District, we were called in early to help with the specifications for the job,” Perkins says. “The project did go out for competitive bids, but we were the lowest bid because we are a local business. Subsequently, we were selected for the job.”

It was a great opportunity for our crew to learn and apply the ancient craft of copper batten-seam roofing on a historical building.

Dan Perkins / Dan Perkins Construction Inc.

The Dan Perkins Construction team began work on the project in June 2024 after the schools closed for summer break. The three-story building complex is joined by a roof that has three cupolas—the center one is 120 feet high and contains an original copper weathervane in the shape of a sailing ship.

To prepare the roof areas for work, scaffolding was erected by Badger Scaffold LLC, Green Bay, Wis., around the building complex.

“The scaffolding was built all the way up to the tops of the cupolas, making it possible for our crew to work without harnesses for the duration of the job,” Perkins says. “We staged materials on the flat-roof sections on the north side of the school using a 60-foot material handler.”

The 30,000-square-foot copper portion of the roof was about 96 years old and originally fabricated from 16-ounce copper with internal gutters 5 feet above the eaves.

“The internal gutters were problematic and caused regular leaking, so it was decided they should be eliminated in favor of an external gutter system mounted on new sub-fascia and trim,” Perkins explains.

Aerial view of new roof system under construction

Tear-off and install

The crew removed the old patinaed copper from the steep-slope roof sections and recycled the material, saving a few hundred pounds to be used by the schools’ arts and trades departments.

Crew members then fastened new 1/2-inch-thick oriented strand board panels on top of the wood roof deck and then applied Owens Corning Titanium® PSU30 self-adhering polymer-modified rubberized asphalt underlayment. Next, the team attached 1 1/2- by 1 1/2-inch wood battens 30 inches on center on top of the membrane followed by 20-ounce batten-seam copper roof panels fabricated and installed by Dan Perkins Construction craftsmen.

All the copper roofing and cladding for the project was fabricated from 3- by 10-foot copper sheets supplied by Oakland Metal Sales Inc., Auburn Hills, Mich.

For the cladding fascia, frieze boards, cupolas and gutter trim details, Dan Perkins Construction craftsmen fabricated the components from 24-gauge aluminum-zinc-alloy-coated steel (Galvalume®) flat sheets and coil stock with a Kynar 500® finish supplied from McElroy Metal, Bossier City, La. All trim details were custom-painted to match the schools’ building trim color.

“This included many fussy and intricate details on the cupolas,” Perkins says.

In addition, the team installed a new three-rail bronze snow-retention system engineered and supplied by Alpine SnowGuards, Morrisville, Vt., and soldered copper snow guards to the panels. The team also refabricated the copper weathervane that included a new shaft and ball bearings.

“Everything on the job was fabricated by hand, and this took time,” Perkins says. “Many of the guys on the crew were learning for the first time the traditional techniques and systems for manufacturing and installing batten-seam copper roofing.”

For the 53,500-square-foot low-slope roof areas, in 2023, a team from NRCA member Nasi Roofing LLC, Appleton, Wis., removed the existing EPDM membrane and added two inches of polyisocyanurate insulation followed by mechanically fastening Duro-Last® 50-mil-thick PVC membrane in gray.

In 2024, the Nasi Roofing team returned to complete low-slope work over the gymnasium where it adhered 10,500 square feet of Duro-Last X® PVC membrane in white and tied the roof areas to the copper work completed by Dan Perkins Construction.

“Our crew demonstrated outstanding coordination and collaboration with multiple contractors over a two-year timeframe,” says Todd Nasi, owner of Nasi Roofing. “Everyone involved was great to work with and remained focused on providing the school district with a long-lasting roof they can count on for years to come. We’re incredibly proud of the teamwork and dedication displayed throughout this project.”

In addition, the Dan Perkins Construction crew worked with Mike Daniels, owner of Sierra Seamless Inc., Iron River, Mich., who fabricated and installed the gutters, covers and copper downspouts.

Back to school

In October 2024, the Dan Perkins Construction team completed work on the Ishpeming Public School District project. Because of intricate details at the cupolas, eaves and fascia as well as customized installation work formed by hand on the battens and caps, the project took six weeks longer than anticipated.

“Fortunately, the school was patient with us,” Perkins says.

Although the team was challenged with learning curves that come from fabricating roofing and installation methods dating back hundreds of years, the stellar result of the painstaking craft is seen by all who visit the schools.

“This truly was the job of a lifetime for our company,” Perkins says. “It was a great opportunity for our crew to learn and apply the ancient craft of copper batten-seam roofing on a historical building. Many on our team have graduated from or have family attending the school. My wife and all our children graduated from Ishpeming High School, and with our involvement in various school programs, the legacy of our roof on the building is that much more rewarding to us.”

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Photos courtesy of Dan Perkins Construction Inc., Ishpeming, Mich.