Ontario Roofing News - Summer 2008
(click here for full magazine in Adobe pdf format).

ON THE COVER:  The Green Building Market in Canada:
Non-Residential Advances
By Marshall Leslie, M. Leslie Inc.
In Canada and other developed countries, buildings are a major source of energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. Owners, utilities and an enthusiastic group of design professionals and contractors would like to change this. Demonstration programs, advertising campaigns, planning regulations, design awards and research projects exist to lead us into the green promised land; but how will we know when we get there?   Read more...

President’s Message
By David Devine, President, OIRCA
Is BUR Dead?
Elsewhere in this issue of The News you will find a column penned by our Executive Director, Don Marks, relating to the meteoric rise in pricing of roofing asphalt.  This unprecedented increase in all things petroleum based may just prove to be the final nail in the BUR (built-up roofing) systems coffin.

Ontario for the last few years has been considered by most to be the last bastion of BUR usage in the country.  In particular, southern Ontario and the golden horseshoe area has been the region still heavily involved with the specifying and purchase of asphalt based BUR roofing systems.   Read more...

Inside The OIRCA
By Don B. Marks , Executive Director, OIRCA
Asphalt Pricing: Literally Through The Roof!
Roofing Asphalt
This past spring the Association released a Members’ Bulletin addressing the industry’s concerns regarding the price of roofing asphalt.  All petroleum based products are currently experiencing unprecedented pricing volatility.  While rises in petroleum product i.e. gasoline and diesel fuel pricing is most noticeable to the general public, many construction products are adversely affected as well.

The availability of roofing asphalt is also a serious concern.  We are currently at the height of the paving season and the vast majority of asphalt produced in North America is used in road and highway construction.   Read more...

Blistering and Off-Gassing of Urethane Foam Insulations
The following article is an Advisory Bulletin released in May 2008 by the Canadian Roofing Contractors Association (CRCA).

In a previous Technical Bulletin (Volume 46 in July 1996), CRCA addressed the phenomenon of blistering versus built-up roofs. Although the reported incidences of blistering in hot applied roofing has decreased significantly since the introduction and widespread use of fibreglass ply sheets and porous coverboards, it is still reported to be a problem in some roofing application. There have been reports of blistering occurring in roofs consisting of modified bitumen membranes over polyurethane foam. In attempts to explain the cause of this blistering, it has been suggested that off-gassing of the captive blowing agents is contributing to the observed blister formation and blister growth. It should be noted that although polyisocyanurate insulation has largely replaced polyurethane a rigid roof insulation material, they are similar in their chemical composition and both rely on captive blowing agent for their relatively high thermal resistivity.   Read more.. .

Installing Glass Fibre Roofing Felts:
A Hybrid Approach
In recent years we have seen a shift away from the use of organic asphalt saturated roofing felts in favour of glass fibre type roofing felts when constructing in a four-ply built-up roofing system (BUR).

As stated in CRCA Technical Bulletin #33, dated August 1986, “The application and handling characteristics of glass fibre felts used to construct a BUR membrane are quite different from those of the #15 organic saturated felts.”   Read more...

Membership News
The OIRCA Board of Directors is pleased to announce the following new Active Members:   Read more...