Steel deck issues, adhesives, garden roof systems and industry standards are some of the many, wide-ranging topics currently on the agenda within the active technical committee of SPRI, which represents sheet membrane and component suppliers to the commercial roofing industry.
Under the umbrella of SPRI’s technical committee, many individual task forces have been created to work on specific subjects. Once their work is completed, these individual task forces then disband and new ones are formed, creating a dynamic environment for getting things accomplished. This flexible structure is well suited to an association involved in the flexible membrane industry.
Right now, there are 12 active task forces. This number typically ranges from 12 to 18, depending on the issues that members believe need attention, reports SPRI Technical Director Dave Roodvoets. Each task group focuses on a specific goal, facilitating the group’s ability to get things accomplished and overcome the hurdles sometimes experienced in typical committee work.
Greg Brandt, chairman of SPRI’s Technical Committee, explains, “This format gets people talking and generates new ideas, without the need to pigeonhole topics into existing committee agendas. It’s good fertile ground to be working in and it’s been really beneficial.”
Brandt, product manager for codes and standards at Firestone Building Products Co., Carmel, IN, adds, “You can suggest an idea and soon after, be up and running as long as three member companies sign up to work on a task force.”
Standard procedures
Currently, SPRI is focusing on two different industry standards. The association is re-balloting its edge metal standard, ANSI/SPRI ES-1, as required every five years under ANSI guidelines.
SPRI has also prepared a new standard regarding retrofit roof drains. This product standard, to be known as RD-1, will be the first to address retrofit drains. It is now in the process of being canvassed.
With the increasing use of 10- and 12-foot-wide roofing membranes and new wind uplift test criteria, issues of how systems are attached and into what substrate have become more pressing, and SPRI’s Steel Deck Task Force is looking into these topics.
One factor in steel deck construction under scrutiny that there are two ways to attach steel decking to building joists. One uses fasteners while the more common approach relies on puddle welds, which may or may not be adequate to withstand high wind loads. But most important, higher wind uplift ratings are specifically based on decks using fastener attachment.
Furthermore, there are different types (Types N, F, A, and B) and grades (ASTM A611 Grades A, B, C, D types 1 and 2 and E) of steel decking, with different profiles and yield strengths, which result in different pullout strengths and can require fastener spacing adjustment.
It’s vital that specifiers know exactly how those ratings are achieved and on exactly what type of steel deck. Brandt notes, “There’s a huge need for education in this regard. Changing times require updated approaches.”
To help designers brush up on these steel decking issues, SPRI’s Steel Deck Task Force is preparing an article on the subject.
The Insulation Performance Task Force is collecting field test data that will be used to develop a lab scale test method for dimensional stability of foam plastic insulation installed under flexible sheet membranes. At this time, the task force is obtaining field test data for temperature and humidity conditions under a flexible sheet membrane.
The Insulation Adhesives Task Force is developing a standard field test procedure to determine tensile strength (or uplift resistance) of insulation assemblies bonded with adhesives. This installation approach has gained considerable popularity with building owners, especially in retrofit installations where building occupants may not want the potential disruption that fastener use could cause. While FM Global, Norwood, MA, does not approve adhesive attachment of insulations directly to steel decks, they do approve the use of adhesive attachment of insulation to concrete decks or specific existing roof assemblies, as well as additional layers of insulation to a mechanically attached first layer of insulation.
For more information on these or any of SPRI’s many activities, consult its Web site at www.spri.org or contact the association at 77 Rumford Ave., Suite 3B, Waltham, MA 02453; Tel.: 781-647-7026; Fax: 781-647-7222; or e-mail info@spri.org.
