Incompatibility of Building Components

The interaction of building components is difficult to predict. In the fast‐paced industries of design and build, the time is not often allotted to research the performance of individual building components, much less the interaction of components. To exacerbate the situation, specified materials are often improperly substituted with inferior or inappropriate products. Furthermore, the quality of the delivered materials is often not checked. The use of incompatible, improper, or inferior materials typically results in performance failures, which are often never realized by the designer, contractor, and owner. This paper presents a case study of the corrosion failure of galvanized roof components in a ballasted single‐ply roof system. The case study illustrates what can go wrong in the construction of a typical facility, and what steps were taken to identify positively the cause of a particular problem prior to the consideration of a permanent repair.