b'yourownweightana lyses ,animperfectdefenseatbest .Howeve r,hopeis nowonthehorizoni ntheformofperformancet esting .Eachofyoushoul d \\.____, befamiliarwi ththepreli minar yperformancecrite riasetfort hi nTechnicalNote55oftheNationalBureauofStandards(forwar dedtoyouwiththe MidwestR ferdatedM h,1975) .\'\'Privatelyownedtest inglaboratories oo arcaregraduallyge aringupwithequipmentcapableoftestingroofsamples fortheperformancecrite riae nume ratedinTechnicalNote55.Forexample, AlliedLaborator ies ,203SouthEllis ,Wi chita ,Kansas67211,316/ 262-6457, willsoonhaveequipmentavailabl etotesta ll criter ias etforthin Tec hnicalNote55. Byutilizingtestf a cilitiessuchasAlliedLaboratories ,youcannow testaroofingmembraneimmediatelyfo llowingapplicati onandif yourroofingmembranemeetstheperformancecriter ia ,youwillhavestrongevidence thatyouhaveappliedtheroofsystemcontractedfor,eveninthefaceof improperquantitiesbaseduponpre senttestcut-weightanalysisprocedures. Ifarooff a ils which,atthepointofcompl e tionofapplicationbyyou ,met theperform criteria,yourperformancecriter iatestresultsshouldreance sultin"pointingthef ingerofrooffailure "inadirectionawayfromyou. Onanothe rf ront ,performancetestingofwindupliftres i stanceis movingforward .MRCA\'sTechnicalandResearchCommitteehasdevelopeda 5footby5f ootvacuumc hamberforf ieldnon-destructiveup lifttesting STM i mmediatel yaftercompletionofapp lication.AnA s ubcommitteehas beenworkingona10footby10footvacuumchamberalongthesamel i nes. Iti shopedthatthesma lle rc hamberwill ultimatel ybeadoptedbyASTMand approvedforusebyFactor yMutualwithrespecttothatorgan ization \' swind( uplifttestrequirements.\\.;.-Bymeansofthenewvacuumchamberequipment ,it wil lbepossi blefor youtotestyourcompletedroofapplicationi mmediatelyfol l owingapplicationtodeterminewhethe rthemembranedoesordoesnothavethespec ified adhesi ontothedeck .Obviousl y ,non- destructivet estingofthemembrane immediatelyfollowingapplica tionisvas tlypreferabletotestcuts, particularlyifthetestcutsaremadesomet imea ftertheroofingcontract orhascompletedapplica tionandafterot hertrades,thebuildingowner , e tc .haveusedtheroofa sawalking-workingsurface,there bybreakingdown theadhesiontothedeck. Wehopetobeabl etofurnishyouwithmuchgreaterdetailonthenondestructiveuplifttestprocedurei nthenearfuture.Onepointweknow willbeemphasizedinconnectionwiththenewtest procedureisthatit be usedonlytotestnewlya ppliedroofmembranes.Thet e stprocedureisnot intendedforuseonexistingroofs . Editor\'sNote: Theabovearticl ewaspr eparedatthesuggesti onofandwith considerabl einputfromMRCAdirectorGeorgeS.Moeller , K sCity,Mi ssouri. ansa'