- Location:
100 & 900 Jefferson County Pkwy Golden, CO 80401
- Project Type: Retrofit-Replacement
- Project Status: Completed
- Products Used: American Skylights, Kingspan L+A, Pyramid
Available for work in Colorado and Coast to Coast — It all starts with a simple phone call.
1-866-759-7732
Hail Storm Damages Skylights on Two More Jeffco Office Buildings.
Earlier this year, 2016, a severe storm cell passed over the Jefferson County (Jeffco) office complex. The storm’s 1-1/2 inch hail damaged over 300 vehicles and wreaked havoc on structures and the landscape.
In addition to the District Attorney’s Office two other nearby buildings suffered skylight damage:
The Human Resources building at 900 Jefferson County Parkway —one acrylic pyramid skylight.
And the Court Administrative building at 100 Jefferson County Parkway —a failed fiberglass pyramid skylight.
See Also:
What We Will Do:
HR building:
Replace the acrylic skylight with an American Skylights pyramid with a polycarbonate outer lens for improved hail resistance.
A Common Mis-Repair or How Not To Fix Your Skylight!
We see this type of mistake over and over. One of the problems with an acrylic skylight is significant expansion and contraction—especially here in Colorado with warm days and cool nights.
Manufacturer’s know this and design their skylights to deal with this fact. The domes are allowed to slide over gasket material. This movement creates wear and eventually the seals fail and allow air and water leaks.
The Mistake:
So the skylight is leaking and you get up on the roof and take a look. You don’t see anything obvious, but you need to stop those leaks! So you get out your caulking gun and run a bead of caulking between the outer dome and the frame. Leaks stop, problem solved.
Wrong! Ok, you applied a band-aid and the leaks stopped. But what you really did was inhibit the movement of the outer dome. It can no longer move as designed when it expands and contracts. Something has to give! Over time the acrylic cracks under the pressure and replacement is now the only viable solution.
Contact a skylight specialist. By refreshing the seals at the first signs of problems, an inexpensive repair can give you years of trouble free service.
CA building:
Replace the failed fiberglass pyramid skylight with a CPI Daylighting polycarbonate pyramid skylight.
Product Used:
- HR building:
- One American Skylights Pyramid Skylight:
OD Curb 97″ x 97″ Thermally Broken Curb Mount.
Bronze Polycarbonate over Clear Acrylic.
Clear Anodized frames.
- CA building:
- D2F (Direct to Fabrication) 2.75′ Quadwall Toplite pyramid 49″ x 49″ odc. 2.50′ on slope odc. 24 sq. ft.
Results:
An interesting comparison has been set up here. An American Skylights (AS) polycarbonate skylight vs. a polycarbonate skylight manufactured by CPI Daylighting. Both will have excellent hail resistance.
- The AS skylight strikes a good balance between price and performance—it will provide average light quality and thermal performance.
- Cadillac price, Cadillac performance. The CPI skylight will provide excellent daylighting qualities (especially compared to the old yellowed fiberglass unit) with little to no glare compared to the AS. Thermal performance is also superior—warmer in the winter, cooler in the summer. Difficult to quantify in dollars and cents, but it’s year after year after year. An expected 25 year lifespan with no significant deterioration.