Technical | NRCA roofing manuals

The goal of NRCA's roofing manuals has always been to provide best industry practices and technical information concerning the design, materials and installation of roof systems. They present time-tested, best-practice guidelines for roofing buildings and other enclosed structures that have been collected by NRCA from knowledgeable, practicing roofing contractors located throughout the U.S.

NRCA made the decision to substantially reformat the manual in 2007 while updating and expanding its technical content. With previous editions, all sections of the manual were published concurrently. NRCA initiated a process whereby the manual will be published as a four-part series, with one part of the series of the manual being published each year over a four-year period.

This new four-volume series is intended to update and supersede The NRCA Roofing and Waterproofing Manual, Fifth Edition, including its 2003 and 2006 interim updates. The first volume in the series, Membrane Roof Systems—2007, was released in January 2007, and the second, Metal Panel and SPF Roof Systems—2008, was released in January of 2008. The series also will include Steep-slope Roof Systems—2009 and Architectural Metal Flashing, Moisture Control and Reroofing—2010. In 2010, the updates will be complete, making the four-volume series NRCA’s premier technical reference set.

In 2001, 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 updated the previous editions and adds several new sections, including a comprehensive "Reroofing" section addressing reroofing considerations and a "General Roofing Project Considerations (GRPC)" section. In 2003 and 2006, interim updates to the fifth edition were published to reflect updated technology and changes in NRCA's guidelines.

The fifth edition is published in print and is available in CD-ROM version on The NRCA Roofing Manual: Metal Panel and SPF Roof Systems—2008 and The NRCA Roofing and Waterproofing Manual—Anthology. 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 2005, NRCA published The NRCA Waterproofing Manual, 2005 Edition, as a result of the decision to no longer include the waterproofing section in the NRCA roofing manuals. Instead, the waterproofing section has been substantially updated and issued as a separate publication to provide technical information concerning the design and installation of quality waterproofing systems.

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 1989, the third edition of the manual was published. This edition consisted of 726 pages and contained information updated from the second 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 built-up roofing (BUR), Handbook of Accepted Roofing Practice (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 1981, the first edition of the manual, The NRCA Roofing and Waterproofing Manual, was published. This 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 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 systems was included in this edition.

NRCA published its first manual, A Manual of Roofing Practice, in 1970. This was NRCA's first reference guide developed by roofing contractors to address good roofing practices. 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.