Able to Leap Tall Buildings in a Single Bound
Effective communication and proper planning
have long been the signature of Christiansen Roofing. This
past October was no exception for us on a sleepy Saturday
morning in Downtown Milwaukee.
The helicopter brings another pallet of material as workers
distribute replacement pavers.
When the property management team at
Douglas Ellman Beitler contacted us about performing some maintenance
on their roofs at the 411 Building in Downtown Milwaukee we
had no idea that their request would require the removal and
replacement of 18 pallets of material onto one of Milwaukee's
tallest buildings and well out of the reach of any crane.
Conceptually it was an easy project: Remove the deteriorated
pavers from a ballasted rubber roof and replace them with now
ones. At the same time some maintenance was required on the
roofs. The roof was about 15 years old and the typical problems
for this type of system needed to be addressed. A simple description
of work we had successfully performed many times in the past.
The trick involved
utilizing a helicopter as our "crane" to make the
many lifts to and from this downtown high-rise. Our process
began through careful planning and coordination through a
regional helicopter service specializing in these types of
lifts. Permits were taken out with the city to shut the streets
down and provide for the safety of people and property below.
The County Transit Authority was notified so they could change
their bus routes during our lifting activities. The Milwaukee
Police Department provided a group of motorcycle patrolmen
to direct traffic and keep people on the streets a safe distance
away. The management group at the neighboring Firstar Center
provided us with access to their roof, assisting our project
coordination (not to mention a few good snapshots). This was
truly a team project with many unrelated players working together
as one.
Everything needed to be either performed
or called off on a moments notice. Winds and weather in downtown
areas can create a wind tunnel effect. Originally scheduled
for an earlier weekend it had to be delayed because of weather.
Our job preparation also included several
days of collecting existing materials that would be lifted
off the roof and placed onto the ground below. We custom fabricated
some unique pallets to carry the more than 1½ ton load
for both the old and new roof materials. Utilizing our crane,
we then test lifted these loads to be sure they met our capacity
limits. Existing materials were collected for "picks"
from the roof, and new materials were staged from our flatbed
at the intersections of Michigan Ave. and Milwaukee St.
This set up allowed the helicopter to deliver
material from the rooftop to the street below, and then lift
new materials from the streets below for delivery to the top
of the high-rise.
Once it was started the project went
like clock work. New pallets were lifted and old material
removed - just like so many others - this time with a flying
crane.
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