Metal Roofing fasteners are only Link between Structure and Building Envelopes and critical components of buildings, Your reputation hangs on specifying the right fasteners. Metal roof fasteners may seem like only a minor aspect of a big system in both cost and size. Yet, they are the part that holds it all together. If this small, inexpensive part fails, it can result in costly issues down the road. That being said, you must make sure that all exposed fasteners are long-lasting. They are a key factor in a metal roof replacement or installation project.
Whether your roof is a ROOF panel or a standing seam roof panel, it will have some exposed fasteners. The fasteners, therefore, must be durable to prevent perforation of the roof panels. A non-durable fastener will always begin to rust, even if painted. Avoid this by always using long-lasting fasteners in all exposed fastener locations. Failure to adhere to this could reduce the service life of your roof.
A fastener must be able to withstand all the environmental elements it is exposed to. These include UV degradation, salts from marine environments, acid from industrial pollution, rain, extreme heat, fumes and gases from within factories and plants, etc. While exposed to these conditions the washers must remain elastic, intact and watertight for the life span of the complete roofing system.
The cost of the Fasteners is normally less than 2% of the total Building cost or less than 1/2 % of the total cost of the project. But specifying inadequate fasteners can cause up to 100% of the defect in the Project. It would lead to the replacement of roofs, the Obstacle of production, water leakage, mess up of finished products, machinery, and all related issues.
Many companies state that they supply EPDM Washer, but because there are currently no standards in place that specify the percentage of EPDM required in the washers, the EPDM contents vary greatly. The number of ingredients in any given EPDM blend can range from 5 to 20 with hugely varying properties, such as UV stability, elasticity, compression resistance and resistance to heat aging. An important fastener additive is carbon black. A small amount of carbon black is required in the EPDM blend as it offers important performance characteristics at a relatively low cost.
In India there are no standards or Specifications of the Fasteners, hence we have to rely on foreign standards. The most detailed standards for fasteners are available with Australian Standards AS 3566 – 2002. This has last been updated in 2002.
It is prescribed in two parts. Part 1 describes the Technical Specifications and Mechanical requirements of the fasteners, which defines how a fastener has to be made for Cold rolled steel and Hot Rolled Steel and Part 2 describes the Coating properties which a Fasteners must process hence that would avoid corrosion on fasteners when installed.
We have shortlisted a few factors you should watch out before selecting the metal fastener for your roof.