Low-rise polyurethane foam insulation adhesives have become
increasingly popular since their introduction into the roofing
industry about 30 years ago. They can perform well and offer a
number of advantages over mechanical roofing fasteners.
Designers may prefer low-rise foam adhesives to other securement
types for certain applications—for example, with new roof
system construction and reroofing over non-nailable decks, such as
pre-cast or poured-in-place concrete; where mechanical fasteners
may compromise a roof deck's structural strength, such as reroofing
applications over cementitious wood fiber decks; where job-site
restrictions rule out the use of asphalt adhesives; or where a
design objective is to avoid penetrations or thermal bridging
associated with metal fasteners.
Also, when designing for extreme wind loads, low-rise foam
adhesives can provide wind uplift-resistance levels not available
with other adhesives or impractical with mechanical fasteners.
On the other hand, low-rise foam adhesives present many more
opportunities for performance problems than other roof system
attachment methods mainly because low-rise foam adhesives are
sensitive to job-site and environmental conditions and unforgiving
of deviation from manufacturers' application recommendations. Your
understanding of the considerations associated with low-rise foam
adhesives can be critical to roof...
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