Denver Manufacturing Facility — R-Panel Re-Roof

This is a 300-square commercial R-panel re-roof on a manufacturing facility in the Denver industrial corridor. The existing metal roof had been leaking long enough to soak the underlying insulation, which meant this project was never going to be a simple panel-for-panel swap. We scoped a full tear-off, full insulation replacement, and a new gray R-panel system on top — all while the HVAC, evaporative coolers, and production equipment below had to stay operational as much as possible.

The project was funded by an insurance claim, closed out at a published $278,203 total, and wrapped in three weeks on the roof.

Why the Insulation Had to Come Out

On commercial metal roofs, the insulation sits directly below the panels and above the structural deck. When the panels leak — and aged exposed-fastener R-panels will, eventually, at the fasteners and the laps — the water has nowhere to go but into the insulation. Wet rigid-foam insulation loses most of its R-value, stays wet for weeks or months, and starts breaking down chemically. By the time we opened up this roof, the insulation was compromised across the full 300-square footprint.

Leaving wet insulation in place under a new panel system is the single most common shortcut on commercial metal re-roofs. It looks fine from the street for a few years. It shows up later as visible panel corrosion, interior ceiling staining, and R-value performance that never matches the manufacturer's data sheet. We tore it all out, reinstalled dry code-minimum insulation, documented the condition for the carrier's supplement, and closed the panel on a clean assembly.

60-Foot Panels, One Piece, Eave to Ridge

R-panel systems install fastest — and weather-tightest — when the panels run a single length from eave to ridge without a horizontal lap joint. On 300 squares of roof, that meant we ordered panels at roughly 60 feet long and delivered them to site on a flatbed tractor-trailer. Handling 60-foot metal panels in a downtown-adjacent industrial neighborhood is its own logistics problem — the street the flatbed needed to unload on wasn't long enough for a traditional crane setup, so we staged a Gehl telehandler in the road, closed one lane with coordinated traffic management, and lifted panels one at a time from the truck up to the roof with a crew spotter at each end.

A single long panel flexes under its own weight; a 60-foot panel flexes enough to damage if you don't cradle it properly during the lift. Every panel went up with a spreader bar, under a spotter on the ground, and onto a staging point on the roof where a crew of three could take it and set it without dropping it or racking the profile. That's the quiet craftsmanship part of a commercial R-panel job.

Working Around Live HVAC and Evaporative Coolers

Every R-panel commercial re-roof runs into the same set of penetrations: HVAC curbs, evaporative coolers ("swamp coolers"), exhaust stacks, vent pipes, and electrical masts. This facility had a lot of them. Each one had to be temporarily disconnected, lifted, the old roof underneath removed, new insulation installed, new R-panel laid, and the unit reset on a new curb flashing — all without taking critical process cooling offline long enough to disrupt operations inside.

We scheduled HVAC and evap-cooler resets in a planned sequence, coordinated with the facility's maintenance team so production didn't lose cooling for a full day, and photographed every curb detail for the closeout documentation that went to the owner and the insurance carrier.

Insurance Scope, Clean Closeout

The initial carrier scope covered panel replacement and a portion of the insulation. Through supplement documentation during tear-off — photographs of wet insulation across the full footprint, infrared moisture-mapping results, and scope writeups citing IBC code-required R-value — we recovered the full insulation replacement scope inside the claim. That matters on a project like this: without the supplement, the owner would have either had to fund the wet-insulation removal out of pocket or accept a new roof over bad insulation. The $278,203 final project value reflects the full scope, properly documented.

Three weeks start to finish. New R-panel in gray, fully dry insulation underneath, every HVAC curb re-flashed, and a clean closeout packet delivered to the owner's records.