Technical | The manual

The NRCA Roofing and Waterproofing Manual, Fifth Edition, is the 10th in a series of publications from NRCA intended to provide in-depth technical information about the design and installation of quality roof systems.

NRCA published its first manual, A Manual of Roofing Practice, in 1970. This was NRCA's first reference guide developed by roofing contractors that dealt with good roofing practice. This manual subsequently was revised in 1971, 1973 and 1976. In its original and revised editions, A Manual of Roofing Practice primarily addressed roofing practices relating to built-up membrane roof systems.

In 1981, the first edition of the manual with its present title, The NRCA Roofing and Waterproofing Manual, was published. This first edition consisted of 442 pages and contained information about BUR membranes and steep-slope roof systems, waterproofing systems, a limited number of construction details and reprints of NRCA's then-current technical bulletins, and Handbook of Accepted Roofing Practice (HARK). At the time the first edition was published, single-ply membrane roof systems were just beginning to enter the U.S. roofing market and, therefore, little information regarding single-ply roof (BUR) systems was included in this edition.

An updated version of the manual's first edition was published in 1983; this updated edition still was referred to as the first edition of the manual. Changes incorporated into the 1983 version of the manual include revised BUR, HARK and glossary sections and inclusion of the new technical bulletins released since the first edition originally was published in 1981. In 1985, a reformatted, updated and expanded second edition of The NRCA Roofing and Waterproofing Manual was published. This edition consisted of 702 pages and provided new detailed information about single-ply and polymer-modified bitumen sheet membrane roof systems, as well as a separate section providing specifications for low-slope membrane roof systems.

In 1989, the third edition of the manual was published. This edition consisted of 726 pages and contained information updated from the second edition.

In 1996, the fourth edition of The NRCA Roofing and Waterproofing Manual was published and consisted of a two-volume set containing 1,858 pages. The fourth edition represented a significant change from previous editions because a vast majority of the text was rewritten. Also, several new sections were added, including "The NRCA Metal Roofing Manual," "The NRCA Sprayed Polyurethane Foam-based Roofing Manual" and "The NRCA Energy Manual."

In 2001, the current edition, The NRCA Roofing and Waterproofing Manual, Fifth Edition, was published and consists of 1,474 pages in a four-volume boxed set. The fifth edition updates the previous editions and adds several new sections, including a comprehensive "Reroofing" section addressing reroofing considerations and a "General Roofing Project Considerations (GRPC)" section.

The fifth edition is published in print and CD-ROM versions. Also, printed stand-alone versions of certain roof system-specific portions of the manual also are available, including The NRCA Steep-slope Roofing Manual, Fifth Edition.

In 2003, an interim update to the fifth edition was published to ensure the manual is as current and complete as possible.

Click here to view the manual's 2003 updates.

In 2005, NRCA published The NRCA Waterproofing Manual, 2005 Edition.

In 2006, another interim update to the fifth edition was published to reflect updated technology and changes in NRCA's guidelines.

Click here to view the manual's 2006 updates.

Also in 2006, NRCA published new editions of The NRCA Architectural Sheet Metal and Metal Roofing Manual, 2006 Edition and The NRCA Spray Polyurethane Foam-based Roofing Manual, 2006 Edition.