8 Areas of Quality Control that Make or Break a TPO Roof Installation

1. Test Robot Welding
RAMCON tests it’s robot welder settings every morning, afternoon, and after any major temperature change throughout the day. We perform practice robot welds on scrap membrane, changing only one variable at a time, either temperature or speed. After the welds have cooled, we cut a one-inch strip across each weld for each change in temperature or speed. Then we perform a pull test. If a cold weld or a partial weld happens those temperatures and speeds are not at the proper setting for the current climatic conditions. Once a full or perfect weld is accomplished, the welding robot is set to the perfect speed and temperature.

4. Probing For Voids
After the seam has cooled, we come back and probe those seams. If a void occurs, we patch it with an unsupported membrane on the same day; ensuring the installation is perfect before we leave the roof.

3. Improper Perimeter & Corner Enhancement
Roof failures are most common at perimeters and corners due to the lack of enhancements.
The most crucial items are:
• Adding the correct amount of additional fasteners to an insulation for full adherence
• The proper number of perimeter sheets for a mechanically attached roof system.
The biggest mistake contractors make is improper installation of attaching perimeter sheets at the corners. Fasteners need to “box” in the corner area. The following pictures show where the fasteners are required to go and which were missing on this project.

4. Base Fastening at Curbs & Penetrations
The end of a membrane (termination) requires termination fasteners and plates. Prior to flashing installation penetrations (pipes, curbs etc.) they must be terminated. Base fastening and termination are typically required regardless of the manufacturer to properly secure the
membrane.

5. "Drain Bolts" Attached Properly
Tightening drain bolts on a roof is one of the most easily forgotten items by contractors. Without tightened drain bolts, water can get into the system or, as shown in the example, can actually lift up and cause a catastrophic failure.

6. Priming "Pitch Pockets" Before Sealing
Pitch pockets must be primed before adding pourable sealer or grout. If it is not primed, it will not stick to the penetrations allowing leaks to develop. Missing this step is a leading source of water intrusion.

7. Cleaning
If a TPO membrane experiences exposure for over 24 hours or gets dirty before welding begins to avoid seam failure clean the membrane. Therefore, it is ideal to do all welding and flashing on the day of installation. The picture shows both a properly cleaned area and an improperly cleaned area. Unfortunately, the un-cleaned seams will fail.

8. T-Joint Patches
There is always confusion over when and where T-joint patches are applied. The first place is at any horizontal transition where the end lap of a roll intersects with the side lap of another roll, or the T-joint intersection. The second place to use a T-joint patch is at a start or stop for the robot. This will ensure there are no voids left eliminating water intrusion. For quality control, we regularly inspect all lap runs and flashings wherever a welded lap terminates at a wall or roof edge.

Quality Control Makes The Difference
When choosing a contractor to install your roof, price certainly is a factor. However, it’s not the only factor. Subpar work is substantially more expensive in the long run and reduces return on investment significantly (not to mention the headaches that come from roof leaks). With RAMCON, you receive a superior installation, by dedicated quality control teams (who know what to look for), and inspects each project without exception.
 

Selecting a Roof Compared to Buying a Car

You have decided to buy a new car. You go to a couple of dealers until you find what you are looking for, buy it, and take it home. The place you buy that car may be important, but you are more interested in the car and its features, right? You bet, because a Ford from one dealer is the same as a Ford from any other dealer. Roofs are not like that. If cars were sold like roofs, things would work quite a little bit differently. After you signed the paperwork, several large semi-trailers would appear at the front of your facility and would unpack THOUSANDS of parts and pieces. Then the dealer’s service crew would start to assemble your new car, from scratch, right there in your driveway. Just think of all those parts! Piston rings in this pile, tires over there, rolls of upholstery material for the seats stacked in a pile (which only got a little bit wet when it rained), an engine block sitting near a bunch of gears for the transmission. You get the idea. And if they actually did that, can you imagine what your finished car might look like?

Now here is the important question:
If your new car is going to be assembled at your home by the local dealer are you going to be more concerned with whether you buy a Ford or Chevy, or are you going to be more concerned who is going to put it together? When you select the type of roofing system to install, as important as that may be, all you have really done is decided to buy a Ford or Chevy. The contractor you select is going to assemble that roof “in your driveway”, not on a high-tech assembly line.

You Don’t Grade On “The Curve”
Remember back in school that my teachers would often grade “on the curve”? So, you could get an “87” and still have an “A”. With roofs, an “87” is a lawsuit waiting to happen. The specific method used to install a roof varies from product to product and application to application, but they all have one thing in common, they are extremely labor intensive to install. Each step is a chance to make a mistake that might end up as a roof leak. Installing a quality roofing system takes a high degree of experience. You expect and need for your new roof to be 100% leak free, no grading on the curve here!

Finding The Best Installer
In our industry, quality work at competitive prices is difficult to find, to say the least. Here are a few reasons why.

1. It is not easy to correctly “assemble a car in your driveway”. Correctly installing a roofing system is difficult and it does take care. Many roofing contractors tend to hire people with lower level skills, but those people also tend to have poor work habits and often have a “I don’t care” attitude, which is where the problems come in.
2. There are lots of poor contractors out there. Why do those subpar contractors stay in business? Well, because people actually hire them. Why would anybody intentionally hire an inferior contractor? Nobody does. But many people do a very poor job of screening the contractors they consider. They just assume that a Ford is a Ford, and after all Ford is a big company... They don’t realize that a roof system is a package. Do your research and select only the best.

Finding a good roofing contractor is essential to a quality roofing system. Florida’s top building owners, managers and contractors consistently turn to RAMCON. We are known throughout the industry for our quality and professionalism and are rated in the top 1% of all contractors in the world!