The Russo Report: Roofing Standards Are Just a Click Away

Two recently approved American National Standards Institute (ANSI) national standards have been made available for free download by SPRI. The association represents sheet membrane and component suppliers to the commercial roofing industry.

In fact, unbeknownst to many in the roofing industry, SPRI has almost 50 ANSI standards, Technical Reports and Guidelines available for free download at http://www.spri.org/publications/policy.htm.

The two most recent documents uploaded by the organization are of particular importance to the roofing industry. ANSI/SPRI/RCI NT-1 “Detection and Location of Latent Moisture of Building Roofing Systems by Nuclear Radio Isotropic Thermalization” is a nuclear moisture testing protocol developed by SPRI – with the extensive input of RCI Inc. The second standard, ANSI/SPRI WD-1 2012 “Wind Design Standard Practice for Roofing Assemblies” was updated, revised and reapproved by ANSI in June 2012.

SPRI’s NT-1 nuclear moisture testing standard is based on a 20-year-old protocol developed by RCI Inc. and later included in its Manual of Practice. The document contains information on proper handling of nuclear based moisture survey equipment in the field, as well as calculating and analyzing survey results.

“Although roof consultants will use the standard more than anyone else, ANSI/SPRI/RCI NT-1 2012 will be a benefit to more than just RCI Inc. members,” says SPRI task force chairman David Hawn, FRCI, RRC, CEM. “Roofing work is being judged using nuclear testing on a daily basis. So anything that can standardize this process and make it more consistent will work toward the good of the entire industry.”

Wind Design Document Updated

SPRI’s recently uploaded ANSI/SPRI WD-1 2012 wind design standard complies with the current American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) document ASCE 7-10 “Minimum Design Loads for Buildings and Other Structures,” which was significantly revised in 2010. These revisions affect every roofing professional who uses ASCE for determining wind loads on structures. Some of the revisions include new wind speed maps using a 700+ year return, reinstating Exposure Category D for hurricane-prone coastlines, as well as “simplified” procedures for determining wind pressures for buildings of all heights.

“ANSI/SPRI WD-1 2012 is a very useful Standard Practice,” explains SPRI task force chairman Joe Malpezzi. “WD-1 is one of the few documents in existence that provides a method for selecting roofing system assemblies that have been tested to resist rooftop design wind uplift pressures.”

ANSI/SPRI WD-1 2012 was developed with support from several roofing industry partners to help roof designers. It provides a two-part methodology of designing for wind uplift resistance of non-ballasted built-up, modified bitumen, and single-ply roofing system assemblies installed over any type of roof deck. (Also, refer to the ANSI/SPRI RP-4 “Wind Design Standard for Ballasted Single-ply Roofing Systems.” This document is also available as a free download.)

For more information about other ANSI/SPRI standards, the association’s 2012 initiatives and other activities, visit SPRI’s Web site at www.spri.org or contact the association at info@spri.org.