Keeping water out: self-adhering underlayment can serve as a secondary water barrier

This article by Steve Ratcliff, President and Chief Executive Officer, Tarco, appeared in the February 2009 issue of Professional Roofing magazine. Florida residential roofing contractors are interviewed regarding their experiences using self-adhering underlayments as a secondary water barrier. A case is made for using self-adhering underlayments in this way nationwide.

Reeling from more than a decade of powerful hurricanes dating to the devastation caused by Hurricane Andrew in 1992, Florida enacted the nation's toughest building rules in 2007. Among them was a requirement that self-adhering underlayment be installed with all new and replacement steep-slope roof systems.

Some of those rules were revised in 2008, including a rule that makes self-adhering underlayment optional rather than mandatory. As could be expected, there was an initial surge in demand for self-adhering underlayment following the initial rule's passage, but what is surprising is the continued strong demand after the rule was modified.

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