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CASE STUDY PVC FAILURE
Material failures are more common then most owners realize. In a five year period from time of installation, as much as 20% of all roofs fail due to roof material problems. Material failure assessments require more complex and involved investigations of the roof, including core cuts, material testing and material and component comparisons then a standard roof survey.
It has been said the only constant in life is change, and this also holds true for the roofing industry and roofing products. In the past 15 years the roofing industry has undergone many changes with new roofing materials, and modifications to existing roofing products. Manufacturers have introduced new single-ply membranes such as TPO and CPA systems. Manufacturers made formulation and component changes, modifying a number of standard products such as PVC, and EPDM roofing systems. Roof insulations have new blowing agents, new LTTR standards and facers.
Built-up and modified bitumen roofing products have undergone extensive changes in formulation. New roofing system systems, such as Peel & Stick and hybrid systems have been introduced.
New methods of attachment, system components including modifications to insulation, fasteners, and adhesives have changed the roofing landscape. Often these new products and roof systems represent big improvements over older roofing materials and roofing systems, increasing the roof's service life while reducing cost.
At the same time the rush by some manufacturers to get new products into the marketplace in a highly competitive industry means these new products may not perform as intended. Key system components and roof systems have been known to fail, often years after the roof was installed, but well short of the warranty expiration or expected service life of the roofing system.
There are many reasons for material failures including new and unproved material formulations not tested long enough, modification to existing formulation for cost control or tweaking the manufacturing processes, lack of quality controls, and poor system designs. Over the years, many roofs have failed because of manufacturer related problems, and not just contractor installation problems.
It is unfortunate many of these defective roofing products are inadequately tested. Often times the fast track to get new product out the door means that you the owner or the roofing contractor are the ones doing the testing or should I say "being tested on".
This is why it’s important to get an outside opinion when a roofing problem occurs. Many times with roofing problems the tendency is for everyone involved to point at the other parties involved in your roof's installation. It is hard to determine who is at fault.
We at Corporate Roof Consultants are here to work for you, to determine what the cause of the problem is and to protect your interest.
The Case Study on this page is example of a failed single-ply membrane.
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