El Portal Warehouse Roof Replacement

At Yosemite, a Critical Condition

Precision kept Yosemite’s emergency services headquarters in full operation during a complex, yearlong roofing project.

Just outside the gates of Yosemite National Park, a nondescript concrete building called the El Portal Warehouse serves a crucial role for anyone who enjoys the park’s breathtaking trails and vistas. It’s where 911 calls from the park are received and responded to, where snowplows stand ready to keep the
roads clear and emergency vehicles await their call, and where all the materials and personnel for these essential services are based.

El Portal Warehouse is the headquarters for Yosemite’s emergency services and maintenance divisions. And when its 40,000-square-foot roof began to fail, Precision was hired for the six-month, $2.7 million replacement project, including the installation of four new HVAC units. Among the challenges: Maintaining a watertight membrane throughout construction, and never turning off the power supply. None of the warehouse operations could cease for even a minute during the entire period of work.

Precision’s team – with years of experience both in the technical aspects of the job and with working in Yosemite – analyzed the roof’s deterioration and developed a restoration that would reduce or prevent deterioration in the future. Anticipating a severe winter, Precision mapped out a construction sequence that starts from the highest elevations and works downward toward the roof drains, and always maintains a watertight seal.

The scope includes removing the warehouse’s existing roof membrane, remediating water-damaged plywood sheathing and mold damage, sealing parapet walls, replacing roof drains, crickets, a roof hatch, skylights, and old HVAC units. The new roof is constructed with KEE reinforced single-ply membrane, with placement of four new 406,800 BTUH HVAC units. Precision also sealed vertical and horizontal joints on concrete tilt-up wall panels as part of the self-performed work, which also included rough carpentry, skylights, and some roof construction.

The project was completed in December 2021.