Performance of the resistance of roofs to external fire exposure is measured in terms of penetration through the roof construction and the spread of flame over its surface.

All constructions are classified in accordance with I.S. EN 13501-5. I.S. EN 13501-5 refers to four separate roof tests. The suffix (t4) indicates that Test 4 is to be used for the purposes of this document.

The standard classifies products as BROOF(t4), CROOF(t4), DROOF(t4), EROOF(t4) or FROOF(t4), with BROOF(t4) being the highest performance and FROOF(t4) being the lowest.

Roof-covering products (and/or materials) can be considered to fulfil all of the requirements for the performance characteristic “external fire performance” without the need for testing if they are listed in Commission Decision 2000/553/EC of 6 September 2000 implementing Council Directive 89/106/EEC as regards the external fire performance of roof coverings.

For existing buildings, performance in terms of the fire resistance of roofs to external fire exposure may be met by either the above classifications or by reference to the national classifications (see Section 7). Roof performance is classified within the national system by 2 letters in the range A to D, with an AA designation being the best. The first letter indicates the time to penetration, and the second letter is a measure of the spread of flame.

Table 35 gives notional designations of some generic roof coverings.

A5 Roof Coverings