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<div class="moz-cite-prefix"> Hi Glenn;<br>
<br>
How do you and the roofers deal with Propanel steel roofs? That's
hundreds of penetrations for the screws, with no flashings, and
they depend on just a little rubber gasket. Or how about the lead
head nails on a corrugated metal roof? Roofers themselves make
plenty of unflashed penetrations by your definition. Instead, I
would call those roofing attachments, not penetrations.<br>
If I'm putting a 2 inch hole through a roof, then that
constitutes a penetration, and using a flashing is usually a good
idea. But when I'm filling a 1/4" hole with a 5/16" lag, its
really much closer to being a roofing attachment than a
penetration. <br>
BTW, we're not just depending on some adhesive to stop the
moisture. An L foot is really a 1/4" thick aluminum flashing. It
has at least 4 sq in. of surface area held permanently in place
by a mechanical fastener that is applying a significant amount of
downward pressure. Bulkheads on water tanks and boats use the
same method, and hold not just against moisture intrusion, but
moisture under pressure. How many PSI can a flashing take? <br>
With L feet, we're doing less damage to the roof underneath:
one .05 sq in. hole through the roof, then covered by 80 times its
surface area with 1/4" aluminum over a roofing approved sealant
held mechanically under pressure. With flashings, you are tearing
up the original roof, separating shingles from each other, ripping
out mounting nails, tearing the undersides of the shingles, and
removing many square inches of shingle off the roof, all to
install a 200 sq in flashing to cover a 0.05 sq in hole. I've
done it both ways, and I think you've got more of a chance of
causing a leak installing flashings, especially on an older roof.
Flashings make more sense on new construction, when the roofer can
install the roof over the flashings after.<br>
The L foot mounting method was developed in the hot water
days, and predates PV by over a decade. We've got more proven
long term success with this mounting method than most module
companies today can claim for their products (or makers of the
latest flashings for that matter). Instead of all this knee jerk:
flashing = good, L feet = bad, how about the roofing and solar
industries coming up with actual testing to determine what
mounting methods actually leak, and which ones don't? Meanwhile,
many on the list have already pointed out: L feet installed with
the correct sealant have lasted as long as the comp roofs they're
on, 30 + years. <br>
Don't get me wrong, I use conventional flashings in many
situations, especially on flat roofs. The Chemlink flashing is a
favorite, but yes, it depends on chemicals to provide the moisture
barrier, as do most roofing materials ( including comp roofs and
most commercial flat roofs). <br>
<img class="irc_mut"
src="cid:part1.08070702.09040204@solarray.com"
style="margin-top: 131px;" id="irc_mi" height="197" width="300">
Chemlink Flashing utilizes a 2 part adhesive process.<br>
<br>
<pre class="moz-signature" cols="72">R.Ray Walters
CTO, Solarray, Inc
Nabcep Certified PV Installer,
Licensed Master Electrician
Solar Design Engineer
303 505-8760</pre>
On 4/13/2014 7:22 PM, Glenn Burt wrote:<br>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span
style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D">In
New York solar installations are required to have all
penetrations flashed – chemical sealant is not flashing. Ask
any roofer what he thinks about drilling through the roof
and relying on purely a chemical adhesive/sealant for the
prevention of water intrusion, and he will laugh at you.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span
style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span
style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D">Glenn
Burt<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span
style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D">One
of many inspectors for the NYSERDA PV and Thermal incentive
programs…<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span
style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
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