Making progress - a North American group shows how to design durable mechanically attached flexible membrane roof assemblies

For several years, the Canadian National Research Council's Institute for Research in Construction has been managing the Special Interest Group for Dynamic Evaluation of Roofing Systems (SIGDERS) - a consortium of manufacturers, building owners, trade associations and researchers. SIGDERS has helped advance the knowledge for the testing and design of mechanically attached flexible membrane roof assemblies in North America. These types of assemblies, composed of flexible sheets (the waterproofing component) and mechanical attachments to resist wind uplift, are used on more than 30 percent of North American low-slope buildings, according to NRCA's 2004 Project Pinpoint. What follows is an explanation of the SIGDERS test protocol and application recommendations based on the testing.Depuis plusieurs ann\ue9es, l?Institut de recherche en construction du Conseil national de recherches du Canada administre le Groupe d?int\ue9r\ueat sp\ue9cial pour l?\ue9valuation dynamique des syst\ue8mes de couverture (SIGDERS), consortium de fabricants, de propri\ue9taires de b\ue2timents, d?associations professionnelles et de chercheurs. Le groupe SIGDERS a contribu\ue9 \ue0 l?avancement des connaissances aux fins de la mise \ue0 l?essai et de la conception de couvertures \ue0 membrane souple fix\ue9es m\ue9caniquement en Am\ue9rique du Nord. Ces types d?ensembles, compos\ue9s de feuilles souples (l?\ue9l\ue9ment constituant assurant l?\ue9tanch\ue9it\ue9) et de fixations m\ue9caniques permettant de r\ue9sister au soul\ue8vement par le vent, sont utilis\ue9s sur plus de 30 % des b\ue2timents \ue0 toit \ue0 faible pente en Am\ue9rique du Nord, selon le projet Pinpoint de la NRCA (2004). On trouve ci-apr\ue8s une explication du protocole d?essai du groupe SIGDERS ainsi que des recommandations d?application fond\ue9es sur les essais.Peer reviewed: NoNRC publication: Ye