An armory roof is bid by drill weekends, not by the weather, and the contractor who ignores the training calendar eats the delay. In Post Falls, about 8 miles west of Coeur d'Alene, the Idaho Army National Guard moved roughly 40 soldiers into the armory for training in 2013. A readiness center with a training schedule like that has a short list of days when it can be open to a crew. Send the plans, the drill calendar and the snow-load basis. We return a scope with the work days, the alternates and the hold points on separate lines.
The call: build the schedule from the drill calendar
Armories run on a training rhythm. Units drill on set weekends, equipment moves in and out, and the building fills and empties on a published schedule. A roofing crew with a tear-off open over a drill hall during a drill weekend is a problem for everyone.
So start with the calendar. Mark the weekends the building is in use, the weeks it is quiet and the dates the vehicles are out. Plan the tear-off and dry-in for the quiet weeks. If a drill date moves, the crew moves with it, and the bid says how many days of slack the schedule carries before a delay turns into a cost. A readiness center cannot afford a half-open roof over a ready room, so the dry-in rule is strict: nothing stays open when the crew leaves. We put the calendar in the bid, with what moves if a drill date changes, so the owner sees the schedule risk before award.
What it costs: access, escort and the large drill hall span
Cost drivers on an armory are the large clear span over the drill hall, the vehicle bays with tall doors and the controlled access. A drill hall has few interior columns, so the roof structure carries snow across a long span with little extra capacity. Vehicle bays are long, low buildings with big doors that collect ice and sliding snow.
Access costs time. State facilities often require sign-in, escort or inspections, and crews lose part of each day. Price those hours as a line. Lifts and cranes that reach over parked vehicles or equipment need a plan for where each one sits during the lift. Put the plan in the bid so the owner sees it before the crane is booked.
Equipment on the roof is the other cost. Heating and cooling units for a drill hall are large, and communications gear on the roof needs protection and sometimes a shutdown permission. We map each item on the roof diagram and note who must approve its shutdown, so the approval request goes out weeks ahead and not the day before.
What the code sheet says: 60 psf as the regional reference
The city's adopted criteria run 60 psf of ground snow with severe weathering and a 24 inch frost line. Post Falls, where the armory sits, averages about 59 inches of snow a year. State and military buildings follow their own project criteria, and the design team sets the basis for each site.
Wind deserves a line as well. A drill hall with a long, low roof and a tall door wall catches gusts and sends uplift across the edge. A fastener pattern tightened at the perimeter and a continuous cleat on the edge metal cost little at install and a great deal after a storm. We show the cost of the upgrade next to the base so the owner decides with the number in front of them.
Use the city sheet as a regional reference and ask the owner for the project's own values. Twenty inches of wet snow on a flat drill hall roof is a real load. Because a recover layer adds weight, the framing check comes first and is a priced line.
Where it fails first: bay door headers, drains and wall joints
Bay door headers are the first to leak. Snow slides onto the door line, ice builds against the seal and it opens. Next come drains on the low-slope sections over admin offices, which freeze and back water against parapets. Then the joint where the drill hall roof meets the lower wing, where drifts collect.
A drip over a vehicle bay or an equipment room is a readiness problem, and a leak over stored gear is a loss. Moving equipment out of the way of a repair is the facility manager's call, so we give two days' notice with the exact bays involved. We trace each leak with a moisture reading and a hose test, repair the detail and photograph it. Wet insulation near a bay door is cut out and replaced, not dried in place, since wet insulation under a patch keeps feeding the leak. For snow sliding onto vehicle lanes, snow guards above the door line are a priced alternate. Roofs on military installations start with the same trace.
Alternates: standing seam, heavier edge and a recover
A standing seam metal roofing replacement sheds snow and lasts. Heavier edge metal and a denser fastener pattern answer the 115 mph wind design. A roof recover and overlay avoids tear-off if the framing carries it. Each is a priced alternate.
Public owners get the life-cycle numbers next to the first costs, because the cheapest roof is rarely the cheapest over twenty years, and every repair visit pays for access again. A readiness center follows the same logic as a naval facility, where access shapes cost, and as a municipal building, where paperwork and hold points shape the schedule.
Schedule and snow window: award early, work between drills
Public contracts take time to award, and material lead times add weeks. The practical plan is an award in winter, deliveries in spring and tear-off in the dry months between drills. A windstorm is the case we plan against, so open edges are tied down at every shift end. A site in Post Falls sees the same snow and wind as the rest of the Rathdrum Prairie, with State Highway 41 running north from town to Rathdrum, so the delivery route for a crane or a truckload of membrane is settled with the facility manager before the award, and the dry-in date and the material ship date go into the contract as hold points.
Closeout: a roof file the facility manager can hand over
The owner receives as-built drawings, product data, photographs of every seam, flashing and drain, inspection sign-offs, a punch list and a maintenance schedule. A fall visit clears drains and checks door headers. A spring visit looks for ice damage. The file passes to the next facility manager without a gap.
Commercial Roofing Questions
Can work continue during a drill weekend?
Usually not over occupied areas. We schedule tear-off and dry-in for quiet weeks and keep the roof closed on drill weekends.
What does controlled access add to the bid?
Sign-in, escort and early departure cut productive hours. We price them as a separate line. Travel from Coeur d'Alene to Post Falls adds little, and the gate time is what counts.
Why do bay door headers leak first?
Ice packs against the header seal until it lets go. Guards above the door line and drainage that leads away from it treat the cause. Heat cable is an alternate, not a cure.
Which design values apply to an armory?
The project's own criteria. The city sheet is a regional reference, and the design team sets the basis.
Is a recover possible over a drill hall?
Sometimes. The framing must carry the added weight plus snow, so we check it and an engineer reviews anything that looks stressed. The core results and the framing check go in the file with the bid.