ASTM announced that it is conducting a series of Technical and Professional Training Seminars on roofing and roof insulation.

The American Society for Testing and Materials, West Conshohocken, Pa., has announced that it is conducting a series of Technical and Professional Training Seminars on roofing and roof insulation. The seminars are intended for professional roofing contractors, consultants, specifiers, materials manufacturers, distributors, code officials, building owners, facility managers and legal professionals.

The seminars cover ASTM standards on roofing and roof insulation, such as new slope guidelines, the viscosity grading of asphalt and performance requirements for MB, EPDM, TPO and isoboards. Other topics include measuring solar reflectivity and calculating solar reflective indices.

ASTM’s recent Atlanta program emphasized that while ASTM standards exist for most roofing products and for a few roof systems, standards should be recognized as minimal. They do not by themselves ensure satisfactory roof performance. Rather, they should be used as a starting point. Guidelines and recommendations for how to develop performance specifications are provided.

In addition to standards, practices and test methods, proceedings from recent ASTM symposia were also discussed. These include the evaluation of in-service TPO membranes, the shift to thermal-mechanical evaluation of roofing systems and rolling-load emulation of insulated roofing membrane systems.

Faculty for the Atlanta program included Dick Fricklas, past recipient of ASTM’s Walter A. Voss Award; Helene Hardy-Pierce, director of contractor services for GAF and newly elected director of ASTM; Jerry Teitsma, technical director of RIEI; Bill Kirn, roof technology manager for Rohm and Haas; Melvin Kruger, chairman of the board of L.E. Schwartz & Son Roofing Co., Macon, Ga.; John Clinton of Intech Consultants; and John Hatfield of Penta Consultants.

ASTM is a voluntary membership organization that develops material standards, test methods and recommended practices by consensus. Programs in 2001 will be offered May 22-23 in Chicago; June 19-20 in Denver; September 20-21 in San Francisco; and October 9-10 at ASTM’s headquarters outside of Philadelphia. Information on these programs can be found on ASTM’s Website, www.astm.org.