Moisture in New Concrete Roof Decks Study Available for Purchase

By Colin Sheehan, RCS Reporter. 

Make this report the next addition to your technical resource library.  

Moisture in concrete roof decks is hardly a new issue. The National Roofing Contractors Association (NRCA) has received a slew of reports claiming moisture-related problems in roof systems installed on concrete decks since 2009. Some of the reported problems include adhesion loss, roof system moisture accumulation, issues with adhesives (both water-based and low-volatile organic compound adhesives), corrosion of metal, microbial growth and R-value loss from the time of installation. 

Since 2001, the NRCA no longer considers plastic sheets as a viable test method to determine the dryness of a concrete roof deck before application of a roof system. In addition, concrete’s 28-day curing period is not enough to claim true “dryness” of the concrete itself. Because of these uncertainties, and the wealth of problems that moisture in concrete roof decks creates, studies had to be done to determine better methods and produce better results for the future. 

If you deal with concrete roof decks on a regular basis, you need to know how moisture operates and how to address it. The 272-page research report on the subject addresses moisture release in structural concrete roof decks and is a must-have for your technical library.  

Moisture in New Concrete Roof Decks was funded by a group of North American roofing industry organizations, including The Roofing Alliance, NRCA and SRI Consultants Inc. These organizations also performed fundamental research and analysis of moisture release on structural concrete roof decks. This comprehensive report describes the research methodology and presents the research’s extensive data and conclusions. 

Problems related to moisture in concrete roof decks are not limited to lightweight decks. Normal-weight structural concrete roof decks have similar problems to lightweight decks and are being reported to the NRCA Technical Services at increasing frequencies. In addition, projects where the construction schedule does not allow adequate time for the structural concrete roof deck to dry before installing a roofing system are especially troublesome and costly in the long run.  

NRCA members can purchase the report for $150 and non-members can purchase it for $300.  

Order your report today to see the findings and understand the issues.