16 Butler Community College Structures Boast Synthetic Slate Roofing
Twenty buildings at Butler Community College (Butler) sit nestled in their El Dorado, Kan. campus. This year, 16 of those structures, containing classrooms, resource centers and student activity areas, are looking better thanks to new synthetic slate mansard roofing from DaVinci Roofscapes.
Mansard roofing is generally defined as a steep (almost vertical) roof that ends with a flat roof at the high point. In some cases people think of a mansard roof as siding, since it covers so much of the structure’s exterior.
Installation of the new synthetic slate roofing at Butler came as a direct result of a severe storm in 2015. Golf ball to baseball sized hail damaged 95 percent of all the roofing on campus.
Selecting Synthetic Slate
“The damaged concrete and clay tile roofing had to go,” says Lynn L. Umholtz, director of facilities management at Butler Community College. “We chose the synthetic slate DaVinci tiles because they’re practically maintenance free.
“These durable composite tiles won’t crack or break, even if hit with a baseball bat or hammer. That’s impressive.”
Custom Colors No Hassle
Larry Walty Roofing worked with Umholz and the team at Butler to find the custom color that would perfectly complement the college campus structures.
“Color selection of the synthetic slate tiles was the biggest challenge,” according to Larry Walty, II, president of Larry Walty Roofing, a family operated and owned company out of Andover, Kan. “The college took this opportunity to give the campus a huge facelift. They wanted to blend the colors and buildings. Fortunately DaVinci has strong expertise at custom color matching.”
Nine of the Butler structures now have DaVinci roofing consisting of a blend of Light Autumn, Medium Autumn, Dark Autumn and Dark Clay. The remaining seven buildings feature a custom color of Dark Violet, Dark Purple, Slate Gray and Smokey Gray.
Safety First
“I could not have asked for a better contractor to complete this large project,” says Umholtz. “Safety was the number one priority at all times for Larry and his team.
“Since scaffolding was involved for the project while students were around campus this was a challenge. Larry kept me informed at every stage of the project and kept extra costs to a minimum. This is a roofing company I would recommend to anyone.”
The massive six-month re-roofing project completed in May of 2017. With impact-resistant synthetic slate now applied to the 16 buildings, the campus is ready for any future hail storms that may come its way.
“The DaVinci synthetic slate product looks great and gives us all peace-of-mind,” says Umholtz. “This maintenance-free product will last for decades and help keep our campus looking beautiful.”