Architectural Flashing Supply
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Tier 1 · Apprentice Foundations

Basic flashing profile identification

How to name a flashing profile from its legs, bends and hems: the families AFS makes by location, what the code, the maker and AFS limits decide, a nine-step method with worked girths, and the defects that send the wrong piece to the shop.

4 lessons · about 52 min · 21 diagrams · 2 videos

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Lessons

0 of 4 complete

  1. Lesson 1 · 12 min · 11 slides · 9 questions

    Basic flashing profile identification: principles and terminology

    What a profile is, the features that tell profiles apart, the families AFS makes by location on the building, and the safety boundary for handling and measuring flashing.

    You will be able to: Define profile, leg, bend, hem and girth, name the families of flashing AFS makes by where they sit on a building, and state the safety boundary for handling and measuring pieces.

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  2. Lesson 2 · 14 min · 12 slides · 11 questions

    Basic flashing profile identification: materials, standards and design constraints

    Why a profile's shape comes from the job and its documents, the 2018 IRC drip edge and valley numbers, SPRI and Drexel edge systems, and the AFS limits and standard lengths every profile must fit.

    You will be able to: State what decides a profile's shape: the job and the governing code, the maker's tested system and AFS's own limits, and say which number belongs to which document.

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  3. Lesson 3 · 13 min · 12 slides · 10 questions

    Basic flashing profile identification: methods and worked application

    The nine-step identification method with worked examples: reading a Drip Edge, telling variants apart by their hems, working out girth, counting pieces for a run and filling in a profile ID card.

    You will be able to: Apply the nine-step method to a library profile: count legs, read bends and hems, match the family and variant, work out the girth, check the AFS limits and record the result so the shop forms the same piece.

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  4. Lesson 4 · 13 min · 11 slides · 10 questions

    Basic flashing profile identification: defects, verification and case study

    The identification mistakes that send the wrong piece to the shop, their corrections, a read-back checklist, a hypothetical counter case and the roof-edge fall protection boundary.

    You will be able to: Diagnose the common identification defects, from a wrong variant to a template taken as a drawing, explain how each is corrected and document a case with evidence for review.

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Practical task

Identify three flashing profiles from drawings, photos or pieces you are given, using the nine-step method, and assemble a profile ID packet: one card per profile, a sketch of each with its legs lettered, and a short note on the look-alike you ruled out.

Hand in

  • One completed profile ID card for each of the three profiles: family, AFS name and variant, legs, bends with direction, hems with end, type, return, gap and face, the girth shown as a sum, and the photo with a tape in frame
  • A sketch of each profile with the legs lettered from one free edge and the bends and hems marked, plus the library shape you matched it to and whether that shape is flagged dimensions to confirm
  • A limits table for each profile: girth against the AFS widest blank, each end flange and leg between bends against the AFS minimums, each hem return against the shortest AFS forms, and the piece length against the standard and longest piece
  • A note on one look-alike you ruled out and the feature that separated them, and one place where a governing document (code edition, maker system or project drawing) sets a number that a library template cannot
  • A read-back: the checklist from lesson 4 completed against the real piece, with one deliberate defect you found or were given, its cause and its correction

Rubric

CriterionMeets the standard when
Family, profile and variantEach profile is named at all three levels, the variant is justified by the feature that separates it, and the family follows from where the piece goes.
Legs, bends and hemsLegs are lettered from one stated free edge, every bend has a size and a direction, and every hem has its end, type, return, gap and face.
Girth and limitsGirth is shown as a sum with the hem allowances, and every dimension is checked against the AFS limits with units and the limit named.
Sources and boundariesEvery number names its document and edition, library starting values are labelled as such, and nothing from a maker or a code is presented as an AFS value.
Defect diagnosis and safetyThe defect is traced to a cause with a correction, the card was read back against the piece, and any field measurement is described as taken from a safe position under the employer's plan.

Module quiz

10 questions drawn from a bank of 40; a new set each attempt. Pass mark 80%.

1. How does a 20 ft piece compare with what AFS makes?
2. According to NRCA, where does through-wall flashing direct the water that gets inside a wall?
3. What does the girth of a profile add up?
4. How many of the library shapes have 3 legs?
5. How far must the drip edge extend below the roof sheathing in the 2018 IRC (Pacific reproduction)?
6. What does an open hem add to a profile's girth?
7. How many of the library's 59 hem ends fold to the outside face?
8. Walking from leg A as the library Drip Edge is drawn, how does the first bend turn?
9. How does the included angle at a bend relate to the turn the sheet makes there?
10. What do the library Drip Edge and Fascia Flashing have in common?