Glorious, isn’t it? It didn’t always look like this, though. Here’s the “before” image:
Believe it or not, what you’re looking at in this photo is copper. And at that time this was taken, this steeple was only a few years old.
What makes this renovation project so interesting are the particular challenges building in this part of the world entail. Charming Odessa, Texas sits right at the edges of oil fields whose airborne emissions produced through the pumping and refining of their product, react with and cause a dark, sludgy appearance on metals around town in short order. This look wasn’t reflective of the image the First United Methodist Church wanted to convey, so they reached out for solutions.
On top of the reactive elements to solve for, west Texas gets slammed with the occasional gale-force winds and even full-fledged tornadoes, so a seemingly simple remodel of a steeple, relatively easy to do in other places, posed quite a technical challenge for this particular project.
Temperature differentials exceed most places as well. Odessa buildings are subject to extreme heat and frozen conditions including ice storms which can last for weeks at a time.
The first item to solve on the list was determining the appropriate material to use. There were only two viable options: titanium and stainless steel. But it couldn’t be just any stainless. More traditional architectural grades like 304 and 316 don’t have the holding power against aggressive contaminants and could stain over time. This circumstance was a job for Duplex stainless steel. More specifically, “Super Duplex”. That’s the very real superhero called in when nothing else is a match for humans and mother nature. That’s the stuff used in places like the Persian Gulf and Hong Kong and Singapore on buildings and bridges in highly corrosive (saline and otherwise) environments which the imperative is to remain both beautiful and structurally sound. It’s used for places hard to access that require minimal maintenance and must stay blemish-free and pristine.
Our clients planned an iconic, recognizable piece and wished for something with extra bling power. Though titanium offers several finishes, the best choice for these clients was a high polish, mirror-finish on their chosen Duplex material. Combined with the “faceted” look the diamond shingles and their corresponding hip caps afford, with highs and lows and flashes of gleaming brilliance, this steeple was indeed a remarkable piece of “architectural jewelry”.
Form is only as good as its inextricable partner, function. We still had to solve for weather. The Super Duplex stainless can take a barrage of hail, but for the high winds, we needed to up the engineering. One of the ways we did this is with a hurricane / tornado resistant louver system. Through proprietary magic (“magic” in as much as our German masters with half a century of experience can wield anyway) we engineered a way to equalize the pressure, so a storm situation would have much less opportunity to be destructive.
We pride ourselves in solving tough problems particular to each individual project at hand. Our field-specific education and global experience has given us a perspective and guide to resources most other metal roof and wall system manufacturing companies can’t begin to offer. If your area suffers from corrosion and discoloration like Odessa or if you have any other technical issues pertaining to metal roofing and metal building envelope, call us today. We are sure to have the answers you seek!
801-462-5264
Here are some more images of the steeple along with “before” images:
