WDMA opens door for longer Hallmark
The Window and Door Manufacturers Association (WDMA) Hallmark Certification Committee approved procedures for extending the term of Hallmark certification from four years up to a total of eight years.
The WDMA Hallmark Certification Program is designed to provide code officials, builders, architects, specifiers and consumers with an easily recognizable means of identifying products that have been manufactured in accordance with the appropriate WDMA and other referenced performance standards. According to the Washington, D.C.-based association, the Hallmark is considered "a mark of excellence."
"The WDMA Hallmark Certification Committee will continue to refine the certification renewal protocol going forward to meet or exceed the requirements for product approval agencies and authorities that are faced with determining compliance to specifications and the building code requirements," said John McFee, WDMA VP Certification Programs.
The new procedure is available to WDMA Hallmark licensees for actively certified products that have not changed during their initial four-year certification term and where the licensee follows the product renewal protocol.
The renewal protocol includes requirements that the licensee must demonstrate substantiation for the continuation of the rating. The rating substantiation will include the testing frequency, auditing frequency and the performance attributes affected and must be described in the renewal protocol within the licensee's quality assurance system. The renewal protocol is open to all products certified to the referenced standards of the program and all material types.
The updated procedural guide requirements also conform to the recently announced Texas Department of Insurance (TDI) requirements, allowing actively certified window, door or skylight products to be listed beyond the initial four-year certification cycle and now will allow for a test report to be utilized for a maximum of 10 years from the date of testing as long as the test reports are valid.