Cleveland-based Keene Family of Cos. has acquired Millington, N.J.-based Barrett Co., a roofing and waterproofing products manufacturer that has been in business more than 90 years.
Founded in 1928 by Noah Barrett, an unemployed blacksmith, and his son, Emmett, the pair worked as roofing contractors and found success installing built-up roofs, which their relative patented, according the company website.
Often referred to as tar-and-gravel roofs, built-up roofs are composed of alternating layers of asphalt and a reinforcing fabric topped by stone or gravel. Decades later, Barrett Co. developed its own systems and materials for the market, including a polymer-modified asphalt in 1975 and a popular line of roofing products called Ram-Tough in 1982.
Terms of acquisition were not disclosed.
In a news release announcing the deal, Eric Horstman, the division manager of Keene Building Products, said he will work closely on a partnership with Tim Barrett, whose LinkedIn page says he has been the president of Barrett Co. since 1964.
Jim Keene, owner and CEO of Keene Family, said he has known Tim Barrett for more than 25 years.
"When it came time to consider the next ownership, Tim thought the success Keene Family of Cos. has with its family-oriented brands would provide a great home for Barrett Company. I fully agree that we can help make this a bigger success," Keene said in the news release.
The acquired company's Ram-Tough system consists of styrene butadiene styrene (SBS) rubber polymers, unoxidized asphalts and a mineral filler, which are melted and spread on the job site then reinforced with polyester fabric and over coated to form a modified bitumen rubber sheet. The system was used to reroof the plaza of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., and to waterproof the underground tunnel network of the White House, according to the Barrett website.
Barrett Co. also offers a rubberized asphalt waterproofing system, an elastomeric built-up roofing system, which uses a rubber polymer and unoxidized asphalt, and waterproofing membranes and systems for green roofs and vegetative roofs.
The company joins a family of businesses that includes Keene Building Products in Euclid, Ohio, which is focused on building envelopes, roofing, foundations and noise control; Dependable LLC, which makes floor preparation products, including synthetic underlayments, in Rocky River, Ohio; Continental Products Ltd., a manufacturer of specialty coatings like Puttylastic, that also is in Euclid; and Keene Village Plastics, a maker of 3D filament in Barberton, Ohio, that had been facing closure until it was acquired in 2017.