b'l\\laintenance of me es, ae instep for the industry. It is absurd mbran good percentagthese coatings is thethemarketplace do not includeand contrary to good practice to firetardant additives. Granulestatemaintaining/ recoating point ofMRCAre that the surfacing has little effect on firewith the appropriate aluminized program.performance and code require coatingwillmake thingsmore ments are often met by the addi dangerous. tion of coatings. Maintenance ofIf youconsider further compublished in March, 1996.these coatings is the pointthements from ULneeded to clarofare Arreceived from Mr. lette wasMRCA program. If this focusesify any particular points regarding Ken Rhodes of Underwriters Lab attention not onlythete this issue, please let me know. tomainoratory; we recommend Mr. F ckri n of the fire-rated systems ance las read it carefully.the futurebutexpandstodeterminingVery Truly Yours, In we suggest the author of the "Onwhethertheappropriateprod Kenn Rhodes, eth the Roof" column callifm is not or couldbe for ucts/applications aret ini Associate Managing Engineer and askancenotcorrecheheardright, sohedoesn\'tmulated into the product. It is rec tially, this would be a positiveEngineering Services, Dept. 411 "miss the mark" next time.ognizedthatfiretestsonly providea relativemeasureor Sincerely,RoofingContractorsindex of performance against aBRING Midwestnationally recognizedstandard Associationlaboratory test procedure. But this T andC it iscurrent accepted tisafety echnicalResearchomm there teeapproach used by regulators and safety engineers. In this instance Undenvriters Laboratories,theStandardANSI/UL790 Inc. Responds:(ASTME108)wouldbethe Dear Mr. L appropriate test. There are literacosse:ally his is T in response to our tele hundreds of such tests as sponphone discussion regarding thesored by coating manufacturers, subject article.Asrequested,Iwhich have been condu dUL cte by haveincludeda other test-nd some remarks onItabsurd andingorganizais themock ofthecontrary to goodtions,whichYOUR fireretardancydemonstrate issue.practice to statethenaiveteof Uponreflec theopinions tion of the excel that maintaining/expressedin lence w f whichrecoating with thethe article.workELMENDORF. ith D hador sev Itwas ick eralyearsappropriatecon and ductedWe can take i Every shingle we make complies with the MRCA recomplanned and con reported by ULi. ducted RIEi semi- aluminized coatingengineersthatmendation lo meet ASTM D3462 requirements. Including the s ion for.pecificatg tear str as measured on the E orftear tester.\'s ai nars,whichdeveloped intoengthlmend pendulumThatwill make thingsclaimother manufacturer can make.,!: includedfirequantitativeno Visit us on the Internet at www.certainteed.com or coll l-800-782-8777i issues,agoodmore dangerous.data to demon .3 deal of conster- strate the effectand ask for ASTM proof.CertainTeed El nationresultedof aging on fire from reading this article. While itperformance of asphalt systems. is true that products such as alu Somewhat improved w age. Bithut minized asphalt roof coatings doit should not be surmised that an contain certain identifiable cate initially poor performing system gories of components it is wrongwill in time perform well. tosuggest that fire perfor- In the case of modified bitumen aloofly'