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Special
Thanks to Our Partners
Monier Lifetile, Spec Building Materials, Curtis Sales, O'Hagin's
Vents, Copper Craft, & Sharkskin Underlayment.
Darren Houk
Texas Tile Roofing
THE Roof Tile Specialists |
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| Sharkskin
UltraSA was installed on this home and left exposed for
12 months! No other underlayment would have held up that long. We
don't suggest waiting this long to finish your roof. |
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| Sharkskin
UltraSA was installed on this project at the University
of Kansas, Studio 804. Students from the University's Studio 804
have created prefabricated architecture while thoughtfully responding
to global problems of density and sustainability using smaller scale,
local solutions. Over the course of its twelve year history, Studio
804 has succeeded as the impetus of change in neighborhoods throughout
Kansas City and Lawrence, Kansas. Last year we continued this tradition
by providing the tornado stricken city of Greensburg, Kansas with
the first LEED Platinum building in the state, the 5.4.7 Arts Center.
This project has afforded them an invitation to the Venice Architecture
Biennale, a prestigious honor bestowed upon the best design in Architecture
today. This year their prospective residential project will also
aspire to LEED Platinum standards and serve as a sustainable housing
prototype. These accomplishments are made possible because of thoughtful
contributions from people like Sharkskin. In the coming academic
year, they plan to uphold their record of architecture education
through modern, sustainable design. |
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| Sharkskin
Ultra was installed on this home in Silver
City, New Mexico. This is a new construction home with a Southwest
syle made to resemble adobe. |
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| Sharkskin
Ultra in the Wilderness As the solo architect and builder of a
timber-frame home on the Continental Divide in Montana--miles from
pavement and utility power--I have had to solve numerous challenging
construction problems. I knew that transporting 37-foot-long purlins
up my 3800', 12%-grade, boulder-strewn driveway was going to be
trouble, so I logged and milled all of my own timber. Moving 300
to 700-pound posts and beams into place without even a tractor
required the design and erection of a 52'-foot, hand-winch-operated
gin pole and boom. Covering my cherry-stained, tongue-and-groove
Douglas fir roof deck a year before being able to complete the
insulation-and-steel build-up meant finding an underlayment that
could withstand 12 months of southern exposure at 6000' elevation,
with 13 cumulative feet of snow, a temperature range of -25 to
+95 degrees, and average storm wind speeds of 25-35 mph and gusts
to 55. I applied 30# roofing felt to cover my progress as I worked,
but within two months the stuff had expanded, contracted, and edge-curled
through so many cycles the slightest rain yielded a dozen interior
waterfalls. I found a locally-sold synthetic product that advertised
up to 6-months-exposure longevity, and considered applying it twice
if needed, but the product's recommended use of plastic-capped
roofing nails was going to necessitate extensive forstner-bit work
along the underside of my insulation-frame rafters. I then found
Sharkskin Ultra on the internet, and after discussing my application
with Mark Strait of Kirsch Building Products, promptly ordered
five rolls. Not only was Sharkskin easy for one man to handle,
cut, and secure with standard roofing nails, but by the time I
was ready to install my steel-skinned insulation frame, 18 months
had passed! There were no elongated nail holes, no curled edges,
and except for a very slight fading of the blue Sharkskin logo
and a sprinkling of pine needles, the underlayment looked brand
new. The true test came at the 18-month mark when my property got
17" of heavy, wet snow on one spring day, and it took three more
days of 50-degree weather for it to finally melt and run off: NOT
EVEN A DROP OF WATER FORMED ON THE UNDERSIDE OF MY T&G DECKING--on
a 2:12 slope! I have few people to thank, other than my wife, for
their "help" on this project. One is Andreas Stihl, who made it
possible for a man working alone to quickly turn a tree into a
useful product. Another is Mark Strait, whose Sharkskin Ultra roof
underlayment protected a hand-crafted timber-frame home from the
extremes of northern Rocky Mountain weather for a year and a half...as
well as any "final" roof covering could have done. After this experience,
I cannot overemphasize the confidence I have in the performance
of Sharkskin Ultra when used as intended: as "merely" a roof underlayment.
-- Michael
Russell, June 2007 |
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