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The definition of a white paper is a
short treatise whose purpose is to educate industry customers.
Our goal is to provide technical solution overviews of our waterproofing
products with a focus on implementation.
Our
Products vs Those Subprime Pitch Pockets
We Duke It Out - You Name The Winner!
by Lawrence
Evensen
The other day, a certified roof consultant
wrote to me saying that equipment screen posts could be flashed
just as effectively and less expensively than our Storm Collars,
using simple pitch pockets. He also said that at the time the
NRCA first created its manual, pitch pockets were dissed because
the bituminous filler had to be renewed regularly and that the
urethane fillers currently used have a tenacious bond to a sound
substrate that will outlast most membrane roofs. He conceded that
pitch pockets are not very pretty. Last but not least, he concluded
that there is no counter flashing required when using a pitch
pocket.
I couldn't wait to respond. Pitch pockets
- those dreaded leaking, subprime, high maintenance, messy, ugly,
well you get the idea... My comment back to the consultant was
that he made good points if one was willing to roof using old or
unwise roofing practices. (No beating around the bush for me!)
As a roofing contractor for 20 years, I found myself called back
to jobs time and again, because of leaking pitch pockets. Which
is how our products came into being. Our products
present solutions that eliminate the use of pitch pockets. I went
back to him point by point. First of all, a properly
installed pitch pocket that utilizes urethane fillers is not cheap.
The last time I checked, they cost more than the collars we manufacture,
and in the end you still have a pitch pocket, with all the warts
that go along with them.
The "tenacious" bond he refers
to is one of the reasons to avoid using pitch pockets because
it is never a good idea to physically attach the roof to
any roof penetration.
 |
| Example of a Pitch Pocket that has been installed using a
manufacturer's expensive chemical filler poured over a quick
drying cement base material. This pocket is going to leak at
the interface between the filler material and the field-fabricated
pocket. Water is also going to collect on top of the assembly
because the filler is lower than the surrounding pocket, creating
a catch basin. |
This creates stress points at the
flashing location, caused by heat, normal structure settling
and seismic activity. And, it does not allow roof systems
to vent moisture from beneath the membrane.
Finally, if our roof consultant checked
with the NRCA manual, he would find that the use of a
storm collar
is suggested to cover the top of pitch pockets as a security measure.
The question is, why do we need the pitch
pocket in the first place? Perhaps another paper can address the
comparison and contrast of the roof rise and counter flashing vs
pitch pockets as roof penetration waterproofing solutions.
Well, I never heard back from the consultant,
but his association's monthly
trade magazine agreed to publish
my article about the virtues of our products. I'll take that as
a win!
Read our white
paper about how our Retrofit
Storm Collars were used on a green roof in Chicago. Go >>
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