ABSTRACT
We were asked by a major insurance company to examine the roof on a New England department store. The following summarizes our initial notes, observations, and the results of our laboratory studies.
In the field, we found the store had roofs at two elevations. The principal roof area, over the retail store, had an area of about 4600 m2 (~500 squares). The second roof area, over a storage area on a mezzanine, had an area of 280 m2 (~30 squares). Both roofs were less than a year old. The building was conventionally steel framed, with the roofing supported by bar joists and a steel deck.
