Atlantic Shrink Wrapping Inc

Historic Preservation

Pulaski, VA. Historic Train Station.

We were called to this project by a construction firm that was tasked with clean up and perform partial demolition to this train station after it had caught fire.

The difficulty of the job was to remove what would need to be rebuilt and protect the 120 year old walls and chimneys that remained.

The structure needed to be covered to support snow loads, fight heavy winds and to stay waterproof for an undetermined time period to allow plans to be developed to restore the station to its original design. The firm was contemplating using blue tarps to try and cover this 120 ft long building and its chimneys. It was determined that shrink wrapping the structure would be the safest, most durable and most cost effective way to protect the station.

The difficult thing about this job was to make it water proof and protect the plastic from all of the sharp and jagged edges left from the fire and the rock walls, and it needed to be strong enough to withstand high winds and any snow load that could be possible at any time in this area.

The job was scheduled for early Jan, 2009. At this time in the year the valley of Pulaski seemed like a wind tunnel for every storm front that came near the area. We met on the job site in 6 degree temperatures and 20 mile per hour winds. Blue tarps could not stand up against this wind, nor could the contracting company make this structure waterproof. Shrink wrap was the only way to go. After developing a plan of action from only pictures, the train station itself appeared much more difficult than originally thought.

Undeterred, our crew of only three men, started preparations to construct a temporary but strong roof trust system to support the plastic. The chimneys were wrapped first and them the main body of the building was wrapped and secured. The final product was a streamline, low profile and waterproof shrink wrap that would stand up against Mother Nature.

We at Atlantic Shrink Wrapping pride ourselves on taking a project seriously and completing the very best shrink wrap available. Each project is a challenge and we aim to meet those challenges.

"If it can be wrapped, we can do it"