Project Spotlight: Commercial Shingle Roof – Southeastern LA University

Garcia Roofing is Southeast Louisiana’s contractor of choice when it comes to performing roof repair and restoration in our community. As one of the largest roofing contractors in the entire state of Louisiana, we are happy to offer a variety of services including roof installation, custom copper awnings, iron scrollwork, and sheet metal systems to our clients. Garcia Roofing proudly offers roof installation for commercial projects of any size.

Roof Replacement for Southeastern Oaks and Greek Village Dorms at Southeastern Louisiana University in Hammond, LA

Southeastern Louisiana University is a University in Hammond, Louisiana with more than 90-year history. It has a student body of nearly 15,000 students. The 360-acre campus has 152 old and new buildings, and there are 13 residential halls that more than 2,200 students call home during the school year. It is important that the residence halls, or dorms as the students refer to them, are in good repair at all times.

Recently, the decision was made to remove and replace the roofing on the Southeastern Oaks and Greek Village Dorms. This is a daunting task. Most of the dorms are two-story buildings. Because of the presence of students throughout the year including when the work was to be done safety was the number one priority for the job. Special considerations were taken to make sure the job could be completed quickly and without putting anyone on the job or the campus at risk.

The Process

Some of the things that had to be done included:

• Use of a special lift and bucket to load the old shingles into and to safely transport them to an isolated location where they could be properly disposed of.
• Cordoning off the work areas to keep students, faculty, and visitors to the campus at a safe distance.
• Use of a person on the ground to ensure that no one was in the work area while the shingles were being removed.

Once everything was in place to ensure that the job could be done the right way, the work began. The old shingles were removed, and all needed repairs were done to the decking. Old gutters and downspouts were removed. The work to replace the old roofing systems began and Owens Corning Supreme shingles were installed along with new 6” K style aluminum gutters. The workers took their time with the nailing patterns to provide the strongest roof possible. All of the other work including new drip edge metal, metal flashing, power vents, and felt underlayment was installed.

Removing and replacing the roof on these 13 buildings required a lot of planning and a commitment to doing the job the right way. One of the most noticeable parts about how the work was done was the way the work areas looked at the end of every day. All debris and work areas were cleaned up completely before the day was declared over. This is a task that was repeated until the last bit of work was done.

The students, faculty, and visitors to Southeastern Louisiana University should be proud of the way that their dorms look and how well they will protect the people inside during the best and worst weather in Southern Louisiana.