United Launch Alliance

FiberTite® protects Alabama-based facility for United Launch Alliance, helping guarantee U.S. has reliable space access.

Project Details:

Name: United Launch Alliance
Dates: Installed in August, 2010
Location: Decatur, AL U.S.A.

Project Story:

Whether it is in the pursuit of a mission to protect and improve life on Earth, or to further our knowledge of the universe, the United States Government must have reliable and cost efficient access to space. United Launch Alliance (ULA), offspring of a joint venture formed in 2005 between the Boeing Company, and Lockheed Martin Corporation, makes sure this happens.

At its state-of-the-art manufacturing facility in Decatur, Alabama, ULA, the company that now employs more rocket scientists than any other company on Earth, makes the Lockheed Martin Atlas V, and Boeing Delta II and Delta IV expendable launch vehicles (ELV). For 50 years, these ELV’s have thrust critical payloads into space for the Department of Defense, NASA, the U.S. Air Force, the Missile Defense Agency and the National Reconnaissance Office. Payloads include satellites that are used for national security, telecommunications, reconnaissance efforts, scientific research and weather.

A FiberTite Roofing System by Seaman Corporation now protects this facility, providing ULA the coverage it needs to offer reliable service to its preeminent clients. FiberTite replaced a 50-mil TPO mechanically attached roof system on the facility. The TPO membrane was less than 10 years old when a passing hailstorm hit the Decatur area in 2009 and shattered it. Roof damage was bad enough, but subsequent heavy rains made impact all the way through to the manufacturing floor.

Stephen Ward & Associates, a roof consultant firm with a long history and solid reputation in the local area, introduced ULA decision makers to FiberTite.

“This facility is important to a lot of people,” commented Bob Combs, Director of Business Development at Stephen Ward & Associates. “We were in meetings with people from the Department of Defense. They put a lot of pressure on decision makers to put a good roof on this facility.”

According to Combs, the company’s goals for the new roof were quite clear: 20 years-plus life expectancy; capacity for protection; redundancy of protection; high resistance; tough surface capabilities; high thermal insulation values; high wind uplift capacity; and, protection against hail and severe weather events.

“We walked out of those meetings charged with finding the very best roof possible for this building,” said Combs.

A modified bitumen roofing system was first considered for the job. But once Stephen Ward and Associates presented evidence of FiberTite’s proven performance advantages in puncture resistance, durability, wind uplift, severe weather protection, and long life, the decision – especially for a bunch of rocket scientists – was a no brainer.

In the summer of 2010, Carolina Roofing, a Platinum Level authorized FiberTite Roofing contractor, with offices in Huntsville, Alabama, installed the 60-mil adhered FiberTite Fleeceback Roofing System, applied with hot asphalt, on the ULA facility in Decatur.