Roof Rot: Ignorance Is an Easy Way to Damage Low-slope Residential Roofs

Roof Rot

Change often brings with it unintended consequences, and the issue of reflective roof surfaces in North America is no exception. In the late 1990s, U.S. cities in northern climates started to mandate the use of reflective roof—more for politics, feel-good, pseudo-environmental reasons than sustainable, resilient and durable reasons. In my estimation, cool roofs often did more to lower the quality of buildings than enhance them. Furthermore, code and standard changes were made with no understanding of the result and no education to the architects of America.

Figure 1: Reduced attic space resulted in a roof section comprised of the following components from the interior to the roof cover.

Figure 1: Reduced attic space resulted in a roof section comprised of the following components from the interior to the roof cover.

Although the resulting unintended consequences affected commercial and residential buildings, it was the often-catastrophic results on low-slope residential buildings that went untold and left homeowners with tens of thousands of dollars of corrective work on basically new residences.

Following is a summary of how these concerns evolved in wood-framed residential construction. I’ve included case studies of failures, potential solutions and lessons learned.

HISTORY

During the industrialization of America’s large cities throughout the 1800s, the need for labor caused populations to explode. To house the labor migration, row houses (3- to 4-story structures, often with a garden level and four or more narrow units) were constructed approximately 3-feet apart, block after block, creating medium-sized apartment blocks. Most of these row houses were wood-framed, masonry veneer with low-slope roof structures. The interior walls and ceilings were finished in cementitious plaster, which provided a durable, fire-resistive finish. The plaster also performed as an effective air and vapor barrier, preventing interior conditioned air from penetrating into the non-insulated walls and ceilings where it could condense within the walls and roof on cold days.

Photo 1: A contractor was called out to fix the “soft roof” and found this catastrophic situation.

Photo 1: A contractor was called out to fix the “soft roof” and found this catastrophic situation.

Heating costs were low, so little—if any—insulation was installed in the walls and roof. Roofs were composed of built-up asphalt and coal tar, both smooth and aggregate surfaced. Attic spaces often 4 to 6 feet in height were vented via static vents. Any conditioned air that passed to the attic was able to dissipate through these static vents. This method of construction performed without significant attic condensation, and the roof systems and roof structure served these buildings for decades.

In the mid 1990s, researchers (theoretical researchers with no architectural, engineering, roofing, construction or practical building technology experience or knowledge) at research institutes conducted studies into the effects of minimizing solar gain through the roof via a reflective surface. Based on the researchers’ algorithmic findings and recommendations (regardless of their validity), environmental groups used the concept to promote change. Large cities started introducing new energy codes with reflective roofing requirements and prescribed reflectance values. These new codes contained greater insulation requirements, which was a benefit. However, in this one code adoption, roof systems, such as coal-tar pitch, that had performed for centuries were no longer permitted. Consequently, roofing contractors went out of business and so did some roofing material manufacturers because of unproven and suspect research.

Photos and Details: Hutchinson Design Group Ltd.

About the Author

Thomas W. Hutchinson, AIA, CSI, Fellow-IIBEC, RRC
Thomas W. Hutchinson, AIA, CSI, Fellow-IIBEC, RRC, is principal of Hutchinson Design Group Ltd., Barrington, Ill., and a member of Roofing’s editorial advisory board.

1 Comment on "Roof Rot: Ignorance Is an Easy Way to Damage Low-slope Residential Roofs"

  1. Kurt Shickman | May 25, 2017 at 4:00 pm | Reply

    This article leads off with a broadside against reflective roofs that is almost wholly unsupported in the case studies he presents. In both case studies, Hutchinson describes bad design or installation failures, not fundamental materials issues. Both of these examples are relatively new construction that should have been subject to appropriate codes on vapor retardation etc. as required by code.

    The fact is, reflective roofing has been in wide use across the country for quite a while. It is the dominant seller in single ply membranes, nationwide. Field tests and WUFI modeling supports what the market is telling us – cool roofs, like other roof types, work well in Chicago and elsewhere when installed properly.

    There have been a number of in situ field tests of reflective roofs in the cooler climates Mr. Hutchinson is writing about. What they find consistently is that cool roofs take longer to dry than dark roofs but they dry out over the course of a season. They find that, even under the worst case scenarios (single-ply white membrane over a single layer of insulation with cuts in winter in Climate Zone 5), there is little to no moisture present.

    I agree with Mr. Hutchison’s statement that we should promote enhanced built environments with time-tested materials. The benefits and suitability of cool roofs have been shown by science, practice, and the real world for decades. There is plenty of great material for roofing professionals in Mr. Hutchinson’s article, but his bias against reflective roofing is not supported by the case studies he presents here and really misses the mark.

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