Low-Slope Roofing Mistake No. 3: Welding Start-and-stop Voids

By Don Kilcoyne, GAF. 

Robotic welders are a terrific way to ensure consistent, durable welds.

But they do leave occasional unwelded voids where the welder is stopped and started. The operator will then have to carefully hand-weld these areas to prevent leaking.

In this segment of the Roofing it Right miniseries on the Top Ten Mistakes in Low Slope Roofing, GAF Senior Commercial Training Specialists Dave Scott and Wally Brown offer their tips for dealing with robot welding voids. 

Key tips include:

• Mark voids on the roof as soon as you see them. If you’re not sure, mark and patch.

• Probe the seam to help find voids you may have missed. 

• Ensure that your patch is large enough to cover the entire void. 

Check out the episode here:

And be sure to check out the entire top ten list, along with the complete collection of entertaining and educational Roofing It Right episodes (muchos de ellos disponibles en español), at gaf.com/RoofingItRight. 

About GAF
Founded in 1886, GAF is the leading roofing manufacturer in North America. As a member of the Standard Industries family of companies, GAF is part of the largest roofing and waterproofing business in the world. The company’s products include a comprehensive portfolio of roofing and waterproofing solutions for residential and commercial properties as well as for civil engineering applications. The full GAF portfolio of solutions is supported by an extensive national network of factory-certified contractors. GAF continues to be the leader in quality and offers comprehensive warranty protection on its products and systems. The company’s success is driven by a commitment to empowering its people to deliver advanced quality and purposeful innovation.

GAF also supports the roofing industry through CARE, the Center for the Advancement of Roofing Excellence, which has provided education to over 230,000 professionals. CARE’s mission is to help professional contractors and distributors build their businesses through sales and management education, and to provide product and installation training to contractors, distributors, architects, property owners, and related industry personnel. For more information about GAF, visit gaf.com.