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"The People's Palace" Restores Its Roof - Without Stopping Events

San Francisco City Hall was constructed in 1915 as the seat of government for the City and County of San Francisco. Over the years, the building has transcended its original bureaucratic usage, becoming known as “The People’s Palace.” Today, San Francisco City Hall hosts hundreds of events each year, including weddings, galas, dinners, and all manner of celebrations.

So when it came time for a large scale roofing project, the facilities team at San Francisco City Hall knew they had more than the governmental employees to consider. Emerging from the Covid 19 pandemic, and all of the celebrations that had already been postponed, this project could not disrupt planned events, and needed to preserve and enhance the historic building’s famous aesthetics. 

  • Location: San Francisco, CA
  • Garland Territory Manager: Tom Wooten & Jay Mulligan
  • Materials Used: LiquiTec Fluid-Applied Membrane
San Fransico City Hall Project Photos-465
San Fransico City Hall Project Photos-447

Satisfying near- and long-term sustainable goals

Garland reps Jay Mulligan and Tom Wooten provided a restoration system using Garland’s Liquitec fluid-applied membrane to the City’s Department of Public Works (DPW) that met all of its needs.

  • The existing built-up roof (BUR) at City Hall was failing, with additional vulnerabilities around aging skylights. A full tear-off and replacement of the BUR roof would be very difficult for several reasons. First, the DPW placed a special focus on reducing construction debris to meet sustainability goals. Second, the DPW did not want to disrupt planned events, the photo opportunities associated with those events, or general day-to-day operations with a large-scale construction project.

  • Working closely with the city architects and engineering groups at DPW, Mulligan and Wooten recommended a polyester-reinforced Liquitec fluid-applied system on top of one layer of torch- applied HPR basesheet.

  • Said Wooten, “The Department of Public Works has an incredible level of environmental consciousness that considers all of the impacts that a project can have, both short-term, like the odor that can be cause by a solvent-based coating, and long-term, such as the reduction or elimination of waste that would go to a landfill. Liquitec delivers on both counts.”

San Fransico City Hall Project Photos-409

Low-odor, energy-efficient, easy to maintain

The Liquitec system delivered a number of benefits for San Francisco City Hall and the DPW:

  • Low-odor – the water-based low-VOC system did not create any smells or other disruptions that would disturb ongoing weddings or other events

  • Aesthetics – the monolithic finish of the Liquitec system created a visually appealing look for the roof, which is visible from surrounding skyscrapers.

  • Improved energy efficiency – the highly-reflective Liquitec coating is expected to reduce cooling needs within the City Hall building.

  • Landfill waste – since there was no tear-off required, the project kept an estimated 3 tons of waste from landfills, while saving significant labor that would have been required to sort debris for recycling.

The Garland system will extend the life of the roof an estimated 10-15 years, at which time the surface can be reactivated and resurfaced, again with minimal disruption and waste. Said Jay Mulligan, “Playing our part to preserve the architectural character of San Francisco is a responsibility we take very seriously. Garland was thrilled to be selected as DPW’s roofing partner for this project, and as a company that’s been around since 1895 ourselves, we look forward to supporting The People’s Palace into its next hundred-plus years.”