Farming has long been a top industry in Pennsylvania, dating back to the colonial era. In the mid-1600s, Pennsylvania’s founder William Penn organized an agricultural show to allow farmers to share knowledge. Over the next several centuries, these gatherings moved to various locations across the state before settling in the capital city of Harrisburg, where they were eventually spread across multiple downtown buildings. As the Farm Show grew, the need for more exhibit space increased. In 1929, state funds were allocated to build a permanent facility to host the Farm Show and other events. The following year, Governor John S. Fisher helped lay the cornerstone for the Main Exhibition Building, now called the Main Hall. Expansion of the complex has brought the total square footage under roof to nearly one million square feet, including eight major halls and three arenas.

The Pennsylvania Farm Show is the largest indoor agricultural event in the nation. Throughout the year, the Farm Show Complex also hosts conventions, car shows, sporting events, and other activities.

The Challenge

The New Holland Arena is one of the primary buildings in the Farm Show Complex. It was built in 1939. The highly visible metal roof on the building had been installed in 2001. By 2024 the roof had deteriorated significantly. The green color was faded and there was widespread corrosion. Coatings that had been used to repair the roof through the years were chipping and flaking. As the owner of the complex, the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture recognized that many of the roofs at the facility were due for replacement or in the case of the New Holland Arena a restoration. Vitetta Architect & Engineers was retained to specify the systems to be used on the various buildings. In addition to providing a watertight coating system on the roof of the New Holland Arena the Department of Agriculture also wanted to change the color of the roof from green to a zinc gray color.

The Acrymax® Solution

Leveraging Acrymax’s proven track record of long-term performance and industry-leading technical expertise, Vitetta Architect & Engineers engaged with Acrymax to help develop a recommended solution for the metal roof restoration project. The parameters for the project included solving the corrosion issue, stopping leak problems and providing a finish that would have excellent color retention and low dirt pick-up.

Acrymax recommended the use of our ARS-2-M20XT system, with a topcoat of our AF-4400 fluoropolymer coating. Prior to installing this system, the roof was cleaned and prepared through high-pressure power washing and mechanical removal of any rust as needed. The roof was then primed with PC-125 Rust Inhibitive Primer.

The next step in the process was to reinforce critical areas of the roof. This included around the numerous air handling units and the ridge seams and closures. Reinforcement was accomplished using Poly-1 Fabric embedded into AF-315 Fibrated Elastomeric Mastic.

After the reinforcement work was finished, the coating system was applied by spray application. This three coat system consisted of AF-130BC Basecoat, AF-130XT High Strength Elastomeric coating, and a final finish coat of AF-4400 Fluoropolymer Coating. AF-4400 is a unique flexible fluoropolymer coating that is engineered to be used over elastomeric coating system. AF-4400 utilizes Kynar Aquatec® Resins that provide the backbone for this coating that offers exceptional weatherability and color retention. The final dry film thickness of the complete coating system is approximately 23 mils – 20 mils of elastomeric acrylic coatings and 3 mils of fluoropolymer coating.

The Result

Acrymax’s solution successfully addressed the needs of the metal roof on the New Holland Arena in the Farm Show Complex’. The roof was restored to its former glory, with a beautiful new finish that offers long-term resistance to fading and chalking and exceptional weatherability.

C&D Waterproofing Corp. partnered with Acrymax to work on the Pennsylvania Farm Show Complex and was pleased with the collaboration. Grant Marshman, the Project Manager for C&D stated:

“We had the pleasure of teaming up with Acrymax on this project. From start to finish, Acrymax took extreme pride and professionalism in providing top-notch technical support and a hands-on approach to support in the field that cannot be understated. This collaborative approach enabled us to deliver a great end product and further preserve and enhance a distinctively important building within the Commonwealth.”

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