Foam and Silicone Rebuild a Tornado-Damaged Million-Square-Foot Warehouse Roof in Garland TX

On October 20, 2019, an EF-2 tornado cut a 2.48-mile path through Garland, Texas, as part of one of the costliest tornado events in state history, with insured claims topping two billion dollars. In its way sat a horseshoe-shaped wholesale depot warehouse with a million square feet of roof: metal decking topped with spray polyurethane foam and a silicone coating. What happened next became a case study in how coated SPF roofs behave under extreme wind.

The Challenge

The tornado destroyed roughly 300,000 square feet of the roof, requiring structural metal deck replacement. Yet the remaining 700,000 square feet survived intact, a resilience attributed to the spray foam’s full adhesion to the deck and its compressive strength, which left no loose components for the wind to peel away. The owner was able to keep operating in the undamaged areas for two years while repairs were planned. The rebuild also had to weather COVID-era supply chain problems and the February 2021 Texas ice storm.

The Coating Solution

California-based Barrier Specialty Roofing & Coatings, working with general contractor SPAN Construction, replaced the destroyed deck sections and applied three inches of polyurethane spray foam to match the surviving roof areas. To unify old and new sections under a single weatherproof surface, the crew then coated the entire one million square feet with Polyglass PolyBrite 95 silicone roof coating, selected for its durability, longevity, ease of application, and the 20-year warranty Polyglass offered on the complete system.

The Results

The eight-month project, running from October 2020 to May 2021, restored the full roof at a significant saving versus complete replacement. The storm itself had already made the strongest argument for the system: fully adhered foam-and-coating assemblies gave the building owner both disaster resilience and decades of renewable service life.