scholarly journals The Value of Alpha SPF Roofing: An Alpha Case Study at William Lipscomb Elementary School

Author(s):  
Dean Kashiwagi ◽  
Charles Zulanas ◽  
Dhaval Gajjar

An Alpha roof is a type of Spray Polyurethane Foam (SPF) roofing system that has been documented to be one of the highest performing roofs in the industry. Despite the high level of performance of the Alpha SPF roofs, owners still try to protect themselves by purchasing warranties. When the Dallas Independent School District (DISD) did not receive enough funding to purchase the Alpha roofs for their school buildings, general contractors started shopping the Alpha contractors. The demand for Alpha roofs during DISD bond programs exceeded the supply of Alpha vendors. DISD lowered the requirements and the contractors and manufacturers delivered lower quality roofs. DISD still required the performance of the Alpha roofing system, even though they bought lower performing systems without the quality control requirements of the higher performing Alpha roofs. DISD was not happy with the lower performance on some of the inexpensive roofs. This paper describes a case study that proposes that high roof performance is a result of expert contractors proving their past performance, detailed preplanning, manufacturers doing quality control, contractors tracking their time and cost deviations and independent third party inspections. The expert Alpha contractor completed the project with the best dimensional stability metrics (dimensional stability is a metric of long lasting roofs). The roof installation was completed in 20 days and saved DISD over 20% of the cost of the roof, despite an increase in the scope of work. It was the first DISD project that had no punch-list items after the final walkthrough. DISD was extremely satisfied with the roof and the Alpha program demonstrated its effectiveness in the installation of roofs.

Author(s):  
Dean Kashiwagi ◽  
Dhaval Gajjar ◽  
Jacob Kashiwagi ◽  
Kenneth Sullivan

The Dallas Independent School District (DISD) has utilized Alpha sprayed polyurethane (SPF) roof systems since the 1980s. Alpha SPF roof systems are high performing roof systems if installed properly and are very resistant to hail damage (hail damage is significant in the Dallas area). However, DISD, due to their low bid award procurement system, have had some poor performing roof systems installed by contractors who did not utilize performing materials and processes. The Alpha SPF roof system is now being questioned by designers who are not aware of their high performance and wanted to tear-off one of the oldest SPF roofing systems after a hail storm. This case study is on one of DISD roofs which were studied to determine the actual and potential service period based on actual performance. It was concluded that the roof is capable of lasting another 15 more years with a simple recoat (resulting in 38 years of performance at a fraction of the cost of a traditional modified roof).


Author(s):  
Dean Kashiwagi ◽  
Charles Zulanas IV ◽  
Dhaval Gajjar

The performance of the Alpha Sprayed Polyurethane Foam (SPF) roofing system is perceived as not an economical option when compared to a 20-year modified roofing system. The Dallas Independent School District (DISD) is replacing the existing Alpha SPF roof systems with new roof systems rather than recoating the existing systems at a cost that is 100% more than the recoating costs. The DISD is in a heavy hail area, and the proven hail resistance of the Alpha SPF roof system is an additional benefit for DISD who is self-insured. The Casa View Elementary School roof system was installed with a Neogard Permathane roof system in 1987. This roof was hail tested with ten drops from 17 feet 9 inches of 1-3/4-inch steel ball (9 out of 10 passed) and three drops from 17 feet 9 inches with a 3-inch diameter steel ball (1 out of 3 passed). The analysis of the passing and failing core samples show that the thickness of the top and base Alpha SPF coating is one of the major differences in a roof passing or failing the FM-SH hail test. The current potential cost savings of purchasing a 61,000 square feet Alpha SPF roof versus modified bitumen roof is approximately $610,000 for DISD. The past hail tests on Alpha SPF roof systems show high customer satisfaction (9.8 out of 10) and an over 40-year service life after a $6.00/SF recoat.


GIS Business ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 14 (6) ◽  
pp. 206-212
Author(s):  
Dr. D. Shoba ◽  
Dr. G. Suganthi

Employees and employers are facing issues in work life balance. It has become a difficult domain now, because the work needs have increased due to an increase in work pressure and complexities in handling the technology. As there are drastic changes in the rules and regulations in the work scenario of the aviation industry, it makes work life balance of employees difficult and set more hurdles. Hence there are many distractions and imbalances in the life of women employees in the aviation industry working across all levels. This work pressure is creating high level of hurdles in maintaining a harmonious job and family life, especially for female aviation employees. Data is collected from 50 female crew members working at Cochin International Airport. The objective of this study is to analyze the work life balance of working females of Cochin International Airport and its influence on their personal and specialized lives. The result of the study shows that the management should frame certain policies which will help employees to have the balance among their personal and expert lives.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (6) ◽  
pp. 3246
Author(s):  
Zoe Slattery ◽  
Richard Fenner

Building on the existing literature, this study examines whether specific drivers of forest fragmentation cause particular fragmentation characteristics, and how these characteristics can be linked to their effects on forest-dwelling species. This research uses Landsat remote imaging to examine the changing patterns of forests. It focuses on areas which have undergone a high level of a specific fragmentation driver, in particular either agricultural expansion or commodity-driven deforestation. Seven municipalities in the states of Rondônia and Mato Grosso in Brazil are selected as case study areas, as these states experienced a high level of commodity-driven deforestation and agricultural expansion respectively. Land cover maps of each municipality are created using the Geographical Information System software ArcGIS Spatial Analyst extension. The resulting categorical maps are input into Fragstats fragmentation software to calculate quantifiable fragmentation metrics for each municipality. To determine the effects that these characteristics are likely to cause, this study uses a literature review to determine how species traits affect their responses to forest fragmentation. Results indicate that, in areas that underwent agricultural expansion, the remaining forest patches became more complex in shape with longer edges and lost a large amount of core area. This negatively affects species which are either highly dispersive or specialist to core forest habitat. In areas that underwent commodity-driven deforestation, it was more likely that forest patches would become less aggregated and create disjunct core areas. This negatively affects smaller, sedentary animals which do not naturally travel long distances. This study is significant in that it links individual fragmentation drivers to their landscape characteristics, and in turn uses these to predict effects on species with particular traits. This information will prove useful for forest managers, particularly in the case study municipalities examined in this study, in deciding which species require further protection measures. The methodology could be applied to other drivers of forest fragmentation such as forest fires.


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