Metl-Span insulated metal roof, wall panels keep ice cream cold in Caribbean

LEWISVILLE, Texas (August, 2016) – Storing ice cream for shipment throughout Puerto Rico requires a reliable cold storage structure. Sterling Merchandising of Dorado, Puerto Rico, keeps its stock at a suitable temperature with the help of insulated metal panels from Metl-Span.

“I did a lot of reading and really liked the Metl-Span product,” says John Williams, president of Sterling Merchandising in Dorado, Puerto Rico. “I liked the standing seam roof; that was important to me. In our industry, it seems like most buildings have a built-up roof and typically, they leak. The standing seam roof convinced me it wouldn’t leak.”

For both the roof and wall panel, Metl-Span’s CF42 was chosen by Williams. Both feature a six-inch core of urethane for insulation, efficiently helping keep Sterling’s ice cream stock at a temperature between minus 13 and minus 22 Fahrenheit. A total of 26,488 square feet of CF42 was installed as wall panel and 14,583 square feet of CF42R serves as the roof. Both are 22-gauge Galvalume in PVDF Polar White. 

“We’re in steady sun here, so we wanted the building to be reflective,” Williams says.

The Sterling Merchandising facility, which houses national brands from all over the United States, measures 23,000 square feet, while the freezer portion is 11,000 square feet. Since opening in October 2009, the facility has endured its share of “testing,” including a small hurricane and an earthquake that measured over 7.0.

“A few years ago one of the neighboring buildings, a refinery, exploded to the degree that half of the lighting in our building shook off the chains and fell to the ground,” Williams says. “The other half of the lights were off the chain on one end and hanging by the other one. After all of that, still, no leaks anywhere. I’m very happy with the performance of our insulated metal panels.”

Caribbean Cleanroom Products Inc. of Dorado, Puerto Rico installed the Metl-Span panels. C.J. Sabol, P.E., Project Manager/Pharma Consultant for CCP, helped Williams design the facility and oversaw the construction. 

“The challenge is to construct a stand-alone building that can be minus 20 inside when it’s 95 to 100 degrees outside,” Sabol says. “To efficiently meet those requirements, it has to have no leaks.” 

Sabol says many freezer facilities in the Caribbean are “box in a box freezers.” The outer building or “box,” insulates to keep temperatures at about 40 degrees, with a smaller freezer  building to reach required lower temperatures. 

CCP had a crane onsite for almost three months to help lift the panels into place – the wall panels ranged from 40-feet, six inches at the eaves, to more than 43 feet long, from the ground to the ridge. As an accent for the building, CCP installed gutters and downspouts in Aegean Blue.

LOCATION

Puerto Rico, FL 

MANUFACTURER

Metl-Span

 DATE COMPLETED

August 2016