Upgrades Are No Longer A Luxury
Roof Improvements Can Help Performance in Disasters
by Richard K. Olson, President & Technical Director, Tile Roofing Industry Alliance
(Editor’s Note: Richard K. Olson is president and technical director for the Tile Roofing Industry Alliance. The association represents industry professionals involved in the manufacturing and installation of concrete and clay tile roofs in the United States and Canada, and works with national, state, and local building officials to develop installation techniques, codes, and standards for better roofing systems. Olson can be reached at rolson@tileroofing.org.)
Once considered a luxury for the building owner, upgrades can help improve performance in weather events. With the onset of wildfires in the West and abnormally wet and hot weather in the East, industry associations continue to monitor catastrophic events as they occur. According to NOAA, this year’s El’ Niño effect will see above normal occurrences of wind, hail, and thunderstorms, creating large amounts of rainfall and flooding in the Midwest and East.
In the West we are already recording wildfires, which can encompass hundreds of thousands of acres when wind and low humidity become factors. The wet spring allowed low vegetation to grow, and the hotter and dryer summer creates extreme fire danger in many regions.
Our goal as industry associations is to learn more about performance of buildings when these events occur and how we might utilize upgraded systems to help reduce damage where possible. The Tile Roofing Industry (TRI) Alliance continues to focus on the steep slope roofing envelope after such events for greater insight into areas we might explore for improved roofing practices. Areas like underlayment, flashing, tributary water, and roof penetrations all have a role to play in a proper roof assembly.
The insurance industry continues to adjust insurance rates in disaster prone areas and are identifying how to utilize limited coverage and higher deductibles to help offset the huge losses they experience from major events. The Institute for Building and Home Safety (IBHS) is the research arm for the insurance industry, and they are developing special programs to help raise awareness for all types of weather and fire related events.
On the IBHS website it states “The Institute’s unique capabilities to test full-scale structures against high-wind, wind-driven rain, hail, and wildfire allow researchers to identify vulnerabilities, the points of failure, during these events. That research then flows into achievable, affordable, and effective solutions to guide building practices, retrofits, and mitigation programs for residential and commercial properties.”
As the TRI Alliance we are moving forward to review and identify specific IBHS recommendations where we can help promote upgraded steep slope assemblies for our concrete and clay roof tile systems. These help increase performance, provide longer life cycles hopefully reducing potential damage.
Our current industry installation guides provide recommendations, which are based upon national building code minimums. As an industry we will be developing a series of technical bulletins to address upgraded systems for roofing professionals to help promote reroof or new roofing projects via building owners. We plan to cover wind, hail, and fire related topics highlighting many of the features that IBHS has identified in their formal research.
For fire areas we are looking at the Wildfire Urban Interface (WUI) and IBHS programs for steep slope applications to increase protection and roof design options. We will reach out to the accessory manufacturers for new products in vents, skylights, and flashings as potential fire related upgrades.
Regular roof maintenance is important for any building owner. For the wind, hail, and fire regions we will hopefully be able to create a more robust maintenance technical bulletin to help the building owner better understand some of the areas they can address through proper maintenance. This is important as the buildup of debris, silt, and vegetation can create water damming in areas subject to significant rain or even wind driven rain, leading to potential flashing failure and back up of tributary water trying to flow downslope at valleys, transitions, and overlaps.
For fire regions proper maintenance can reduce the accumulation of fire fuels on specific roof areas such as valleys, crickets, skylights, and solar panels that can trap vegetation. As roofing professionals, this can be an ongoing source of revenue from inspection and repairs noted during maintenance calls. As an industry, we always recommend that such maintenance be performed by a licensed and bonded roofing professional familiar with the specific roof system.
The TRI Alliance is developing energy saving designs that will help provide energy cost reductions to building owners compared to other traditional roof coverings. Through our TRI Alliance field studies, we are developing performance modeling in various code-defined climate zones. We will be comparing our roofing tiles to other traditional steep slope materials to better understand heat transfer through the roofing assembly in real-life application.
As the TRI alliance we welcome feedback from the roofing community on potential revisions to our manuals, topics of interest for our training, and outreach programs and potential technical bulletins. As an association the TRI Alliance continues to grow our membership year on year. For those wishing to become a member or to receive our outreach via email or social media, please feel free to reach out to us.
