What's New

McElroy Metal has built a nationwide reputation as a leading supplier of metal construction products. Armed with one of the broadest product lines in the marketplace, the Bossier City, LA-based company is now geared up to attack retrofit roofing.

Since 1963, McElroy has served the construction industry with quality products and exceptional customer service. The company’s architectural and engineered systems focus has always been to help design professionals and contractors find solutions in metal. Now, after years of planning and many months of development, McElroy has announced a complete retrofit framing systems product offering.

As metal roofs continue to gain in popularity, so does retrofitting older buildings with minimal roof slopes by using light-gauge framing systems and warranted metal roofing. Frequently installed to replace conventional roofing methods that have failed, metal roof retrofit provides proven performance and long-term reliability with energy savings adding to business profitability.

McElroy’s Retrofit Systems encompass a variety of applications for functional low-slope, architectural steep-slope, special construction, or problematic geometry issues. With multiple framing system methods available, design professionals, contractors and building owners are offered a wide variety of retrofit options.

“We’re excited about retrofit roofing. There are worn out conventional roofs all across the country that are in need of a retrofit metal roof," explained Ken Gieseke, McElroy's vice president of marketing, who noted that the launch date for Retrofit Systems was August 1^st.

“We’ve been involved in retrofit projects for a number of years, but not with a detailed program like this," Gieseke said. "We decided many months ago that it was time to put a detailed retrofit program together that we could go to the marketplace with.

He continued, "The difference now is that we have developed a bona fide program with sales aids, marketing tools, CAD drawings—all the expertise to go to the marketplace and sell retrofit systems. We’ll be able to do most any conventional roof that needs to be replaced, as well as metal roofs that have gone through decades and their useful life is over.”

McElroy offers a variety of products for roof replacements, fitting the proper solution to each project--including tear-offs, building pitch into flat roofs, or reroofing over aging metal panels.

“One of the nice things about focusing on the retrofit market at this time is that we’ve made a lot of enhancements to our product line over the past four or five years," Gieseke noted. "We’ve added many standing seam products and improved our roll-forming capabilities for the sub-structural systems. We have the ability to produce all of the products that we need for complete retrofit systems. Each system will be customized for the specific project.

"Today, we have one of the most extensive standing seam lines in the industry.For example, our Maxima family of vertical leg standing seam is one of our most popular profiles, which we offer in 3", 2” and 1-1/2” seam heights. The 1-1/2” and 2” systems can also be curved and can be seamed at 90 degrees or 180 degrees. Right now we have the broadest selection of vertical leg standing seam systems in the industry."

Retrofit Systems is a part of McElroy's Architectural Products Group, which was formed more than two years ago to address the growing use of metal panels in the design community. Mark Lawson, a 20-year company veteran, heads that group as Director of Architectural Products.

While developing the retrofit program, McElroy first identified what other manufacturers were doing in the marketplace. “While a handful of manufacturers offer fully engineered retrofit framing systems,” explained Lawson, “most do not make it easy for design professionals and contractors to understand the design dynamics of the framing itself. By contrast, McElroy will provide users the capability to generate a proper layout of the framing in the early stages of their projects.”

Educational Guide Assembled

To assist in the further development of the retrofit marketplace, McElroy has authored "The Designers Guide To Retrofit Framing Systems". This 168-page manual provides users with a comprehensive education concerning retrofit systems. It provides everything from basic background knowledge for evaluation of alternative conventional reroofing methods to outlining analysis and inspection procedures for existing buildings.

Essential to providing a complete program, McElroy has included sections that explain framing anchorage to the existing roof's structural system, ventilation, condensation control and thermal resistance. In addition, it illustrates framing methods with enough technical data to allow the user to prepare bid documents with drawings and performance specifications.

Standard details are also included in the manual. McElroy has created nearly 100 standard framing assemblies available in AutoCAD format that address typical conditions--along with special areas such as roof overhangs, fascia systems and what to do with existing rooftop obstructions. The Design Guide and its standard details are available for download at mcelroymetal.com or on CD through local McElroy sales representatives.

To prepare for the launch of Retrofit Systems, McElroy's technical services, customer service and sales personnel underwent educational programs conducted at six of the company's nine manufacturing facilities. The same sales force, who called on contractors and architects previously from McElroy, will be working with these construction professionals as they take on retrofit projects.

"In order to be successful with any new product offering, your people must be knowledgeable about the product's features and benefits," said Lawson. "They also have to know what the product or system can do as well as cannot do. Retrofit can be very complex and our employees' understanding of its fundamentals is more important than the product itself."