Mason Industries has come up with another interesting curb innovation, The Catwalk Rooftop Spring Curb.
Why attach a Catwalk, or service platform, to an RSC? Large air handling units are often elevated more than 4 ft. above the finished roof line. Servicing units becomes difficult without the help of a catwalk. In other cases, sections of the roof adjacent to the curb are inaccessible because of duct or piping penetrations. The catwalk along the side is a great way to provide a fully isolated curb and allow for easy maintenance.
The 54″ high curb shown in the field photos (Fig.1 & Fig. 2) was recently supplied for the University of Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor, Michigan to support a Trane Intellipak.
Structural support for the catwalk is achieved by making attachment to the lower, rigid portion of the curb, as shown in Fig. 2. The upper, floating isolation rail is free so there is no reduction in vibration isolation performance. In keeping with the code requirements, the width of the catwalk is usually 3 ft., which is a good staging area for servicing. The safety railing is approximately 4 ft. tall and held together by aluminum pipe fittings. We can construct the railing so it can be removed temporarily to bring in larger replacement components. A toe-board runs alongside the railing to prevent sliding off.
For some reason, we have been keeping this capability a secret. We actually built our first Catwalk RSC back in September of 2003 at the request of our NY representative, Mason East. We have had dozens of successful installations since then.
Don’t let larger, higher elevation rooftop units keep you from properly protecting residents from unwanted noise and vibration. Please call us with all of your rooftop isolation requirements. We look forward to working with you.
Fred Ward
Chief Engineer
