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Back to School at MSU  

Slate RoofThousands of students flooded back to the classrooms at Mississippi State University (MSU) this past month. Many of them are taking classes at the new Old Main Academic Center on campus.

Opened just in time for the start of the school year, the $41 million, four-story structure was designed to resemble the Old Main Dormitory, which was destroyed by fire in 1959. The new building boasts 20 classrooms, 14 study rooms, a library and a dividable auditorium. On the bottom of the building there’s a 148-space parking garage … and on top of the structure there’s DaVinci Roofscapes composite slate tile overhead.

The talented team at Graham Roofing faced the challenge of installing the Slate Gray synthetic slate roofing tile on the 150,000-square-foot structure. “This was our first time installing DaVinci products and it was more ‘contractor friendly’ than other brands we’ve previously installed,” says Mickey Gilmer, estimator at Graham Roofing out of West Point, MS. “The tiles come in pre-coordinated bundles. By not having to hand mix the tiles, nor having to bend the corners of the tiles prior to installation, we saved a tremendous amount of time and labor.”

For the Graham Roofing crew, the building height proved to be one of the largest challenges. “The front of the building and east sides had an eave height of 85 feet,” says Gilmer. “That’s pretty high up there. The west and south sides ranged from 60 to 75 feet, which was also quite tall.

“Now that our feet are back on the ground and the building is complete, we look up there proudly at how beautiful the roof looks on the structure. And, we have a sense of pride in knowing that Graham Roofing and DaVinci Roofscapes played a major role in bringing this new structure to life at MSU.”