While many of the materials that comprise a roofing system have not dramatically changed in the past 15 or more years, many external needs of the building envelope have changed, and these revisions often should factor into roofing system selection — if not drive the decision-making process. In addition to the needs of the building envelope, there have been improvements in material installation methods and regulatory mandates to consider.
“Failure to understand how changes in peripheral building components can affect the expected life of a roofing system is becoming more common as designers and specifiers work hard to meet so many competing demands of building envelope design,” said Helene Hardy Pierce, vice president of Technical Services, Codes, and Industry Relations for GAF. “In addition to building component changes, competing needs of the finished system makes roofing system selection more critical than ever before.”