This course has been discontinued
This is a live, repeat presentation of a webinar that was originally offered on 04/27/2020. Attendees of the previously offered presentation, SKU #RV-W042720, will not receive CEU for attending the 09/14/2020 presentation.
For over one hundred years, from the middle of the 19th Century to the last quarter of the 20th Century, specifying a roof covering for any large, flat commercial building in the United States was a relatively simple task. Only one type of roofing system was used on almost all commercial buildings: a “built-up roof” composed of layers of fabric (or roofing “felts”) embedded in applied coatings of hot tar or asphalt. For the specifier, the only question was how many layers to install: two, three, or four?
The process of installing layers of hot, smoky asphalt is both labor intensive and hazardous. And by the 1970s new roofing types were developed that required less labor and posed fewer worker hazards. These new alternatives included a virtual alphabet soup of chemical polymers – PVC, SBS, APP, EPDM, and more – that offered installation savings and performance benefits, albeit with increased confusion in the marketplace. As a result, the specification and selection of a commercial roofing system is a complicated affair, requiring increased understanding of the key functions of roofing systems as well as a detailed knowledge of the many different commercial roofing types.
To help provide structure and simplification to the roof selection process, this seminar reviews the knowledge base and decision path needed for building professionals to make the best roofing selections for their particular situations and needs. The webinar starts with a brief history of commercial roofing, with special emphasis on the key factors that have shaped today’s roofing market. Next, all of the major types of commercial roofing systems are reviewed, with a focus on the specific strengths and shortcomings of each type. Finally, the key characteristics of each modern roofing system are compared against a list of critical functions that modern roofing systems may be expected to perform. Using the key characteristics of modern roofing systems and comparing them against today’s demands on roofs, building professionals can be equipped to evaluate roofing system alternatives in a logical and cost-effective manner.
