roof

"A roof keeps out wind, rain, snow, hail, and the sun's light and heat. To accomplish this, a roof's surface must be watertight and durable as well as flexible enough to adapt to temperature changes without cracking or otherwise losing its integrity. In some areas, roofs must also be fire-resistant" Homeowner's Handbook

"Roofing is an important aesthetic element of a house, but a roofˇŻs most important function is to protect the house and its inhabitants from inclement weather." Housing Zone

"The roof system functions as the primary sheltering element for the interior spaces of a building. ... Because of its varied functional tasks spread over a large area, the roof system is potentially the most expensive system of a building". - Online source

Moisture control: "It is estimated that energy losses through roofs in the U.S. are increased by 70% because of the loss of insulation's thermal resistance due to moisture contamination. Wet roofing must be replaced at significant cost, both financially and in terms of increased construction waste" Desjarlais and Deroukakis, 1995, Self-drying roofs: What? No dripping! .

For sloped roofs, conventional solutions are to leave a cavity between the thermal insulation and the sheathing and vent it with outside air and/or to include a vapor barrier below the insulation layer

Tidbits

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Roof problems

ORNL -- Building Envelopes Program at Oak Ridge National Laboratory

"building envelope research, which focuses on the structural elements that enclose a building (walls, roofs and foundations), and materials research, which concentrates on the materials within the envelope systems (such as insulation)."




RCI-Mercury - Resource for Roofing and Waterproofing Information

Excellent "online roofing and waterproofing document resource. " on Coatings Codes, Associations, Standards, Wood Expansion Joints, etc.; ...technical journal of the Roof Consultants Institute.




Stafford Consulting Engineers

"providing much-needed engineering guidance for roofing and waterproofing systems, where little or none existed before"




Walls and Infrastructure

excellent introductory info on building envelope (Foundations Wall Structures Roof Structures), as Structural System, a course suplment.

low-slope, drying

A capacitance probe for measurement of moisture content in open pore thermal insulations, by Motakef, S., and L.R. Glicksman, 1989

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A computer analysis of the moisture performance of roof constructins in the U.S. DOE Moisture Control Handbook, by Tsongas, G.A., Thornton, B.A., Burch, D.M. and Walton, G.N, 1996

stochastic model

A discrete stochastic model for performance prediction of roofing systems, by Lounis, Z., D. J. Vanier and M. A. Lacasse, 1998

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A field study of the moisture performance of roofs of occupied newly constructed timber framed houses, by Cunningham, M.J., M.R. Bassett, D. McQuade, and M. Beckett, 1994

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A new model for mould prediction and its application on a test roof, by Krus, M., Sedlbauer, K., Zillig, W. and Kunzel, H.M, 2001

moisture accumulation in roof cavity

An analysis of moisture accumulation in the roof cavities of manufactured housing, by Burch, D., 1995

use smart vapor barrier on slope roof

Application of a new type of air and vapor retarder in a self-drying sloped roof with a cathedral ceiling, by Hens, H. and Janssens, A., 1998

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Drying of an AAC flat roof in different climates Computational sensitivity analysis versus material property measurements, by Holm, A., 2001

ASTM water penetration of metal roof

E1646-95 Standard Test Method for Water Penetration of Exterior Metal Roof Panel Systems by Uniform Static Air Pressure Difference, by ASTM, 1995

attics ventilation

Issues related to venting of attics and cathedral ceilings, by TenWolde, A. and Rose, W. B., 1999

roof market in NA

Keeping roofs on and working, by Paroli, R. and Baskaran, A., 1996

low-slope, drying

Laboratory measurements of the drying rates of low-slope roofing systems, by Desjarlais, A.O., D.M. Kyle, P.W. Childs, and J.E. Christian, 1994

flat roof

Large scale testing of two flat roof assemblies insulated with cellulose, by Derome, D. and Fazio, P., 1998

latent heat on light wieght roofs

Latent heat flow in lightweight roofs and its influence on the thermal performance of buildings, by Rode, C. and Rudbeck, C., 1998

prefabricated, lightweight, wood-based membrane-roof

Moisture conditions of non-ventilated, wood-based, membrane-roof components, by Rode, C., Crhistensen, G. and Vesterlokke, M., 1992

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Moisture in the roofs of cold storage buildings, by Tobiasson, W. N., Greatorex, A. R., Fabian, B. A., 1998

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Moisture occurrence in roof assemblies containing moisture storing insulation and its impact on the durability of building envelope, by Derome, D., 2000

simulation of moisture balance

Moisture risk assessment of roof constructions by computer simulation in comparison to the standard Glaser-method, by Kunzel, H. M., 2000

moisture, low-slope

Moisture: its effects on the thermal performance of a low-slope roof system, by Desjarlais, A.O., J.E. Christian, D.M. Kyle, and C. Rode, 1993

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Performance-based development of a thermally insulated pitched roof system, by Hens, H., 1998

HAM modelling

Pitched roofs, heat-air-moisture transport in tiled and slated roofs with the thermal insulation at rafter level, by Hens, H., B. Remans, E. Vamnechelen, and M. Hus, 1992

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Practical application of an uncertainty approach for hygrothermal building simulations--drying of an AAC flat roof, by Holm, A.H. and Kuenzel, H.M, 2002

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Predicting current serviceability and residual service life of plywood roof sheathing using kinetics-based models, by Winandy, J.E., Lebow, P.K. and Murphy, J.F, 2002

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Reexamining roof ventilation, by Woods, T., 2000

self-drying

Self-drying roofs: What? No dripping!, by Desjarlais, A. O., Deroukakis, E., 1995

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Simulating non-isothermal water vapour transfer: an experimental validation on multi-layered building components, by Roels, S., Depraetere, W., Carmeliet, J. and Hens, H., 1999

flat roof

Testing of flat roofs insulated with cellulose fiber, by Fazio, P., Derome, D., Gebasi, D., Athienitis, A., Depani, S., Kovacevic, P., 1998

reflective roof

The impact of reflectivity and emissivity of roofs on building cooling and heating energy use, by Akbari, H. and S. J. Konopacki, 1998

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The influence of low-permeance vapor barriers on roof and wall performance, by Straube, J., 2001

historic, rehabilitation

The problem of the durability of materials used in the rehabilitation of historic timber roofs- rehabilitation of historic timber roofs, by Cestari, C. B. and S. Cravero And S. C. C. Lombardi, 1999

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The self-drying concept for flat roofs, by Korsgaard, V., Rode, C. and Bunch-Nielsen, T., 1996

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Thermal and moisture performance of a sealed cold-roof system with a vapor-permeable underlay, by Ojanen, T., 2001

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Thermal degradation of fire-retardant-treated plywood, by Winandy, J. E., 2002

crawl and roof, no air seal on floor

Through the roof, by Wardell, C., 2001

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Uncertainty approaches for hygrothermal building simulations - drying of an AAC flat roof in different climates, by Holm, A. and Kuenzel, H. M., 2001