National Coatings Blog

One of the primary benefits of a cool roof coating is to provide a cooler indoor ambient air temperature inside the building. This in turn, lowers air conditioning usage allowing a building owner or tenant to save on energy cooling costs, while still maintaining a comfortable work environment. The coatings do this by reflecting the sun’s heat away from the roof opposed to traditional roofing, which retains a bulk of the heat.

Cool roof coatings are comprised of UV blocking pigments that prevent the roofs surface from absorbing the UV rays (which cause the heat) by redirecting these rays back into the atmosphere, away from the building. Typically, these coatings are bright white in color because they are able to reflect the heat better than dark coatings; however, if a bright white rooftop is not the best choice for your building, you can install a cool roof coating system with a tan or sand colored rooftop while still gaining energy savings.

The Cool Roof Rating Council (CRRC) is an excellent resource for determining reflectivity as they test and rate roofing products for solar reflectance and thermal emittance, providing consultants and building owners with initial and 3 year unbiased results. The CRRC has rated several of NCC’s cool roof coatings in sand and have determined even after 3 years, these coatings are able to provide plenty of UV resistance. Click here to review all of our CRRC rating products with their testing results.

If you are looking for a cool roof coating in sand that is proven to provide reflectivity, our AcryShield A400 Sand, AcryShield A420 Sand, AcryShield A500 Sand, and AcryShield A510 Sand are all great options. These coatings are multi-purpose, high performance, elastomeric, acrylic coatings for use over a variety of substrates.

For more information on our Cool Roof Coating Systems and Products, download our FREE Product and Application Brochure!

A reflective roof coating is a coating that has the ability to reflect the sun’s rays away from the building. These coatings absorb a minimal amount of the sun’s heat, allowing the building to remain a cooler temperature and the roof membrane to perform longer.

Reflective roof coatings protect the roof membrane from premature degradation caused by the sun. They are able to extend the life of the roof and lower roof maintenance costs as they safeguard the roof membrane from early embrittlement, cracking and leaking. The more heat and UV rays a roof membrane absorbs, the quicker it dries out and begins failing. AcryShield high performance reflective roof coatings absorb only a small percentage of the heat, the membrane is able to remain flexible, moving with the expansion and contraction of the building without leaking, tearing, cracking, or ripping. 

Reduced energy costs are also associated with reflective roof coatings. Since the roof reflects the heat away from the building, the inside ambient air temperature rises at a much slower rate than if the roof had absorbed that heat, this allows the inside of the building to remain cooler throughout the day. Building owners and tenants are able to save money on energy cooling costs without compromising a comfortable indoor air temperature. 

For more information on roof coatings and reflectivity, download our Cool Roof Buyer’s Guide for FREE.

Size: 255,000 square feet
Location: Sacramento, California
System: National Coatings AcryPly® Restoration System

Challenge: Severely Aged, Leaking Roof

• 15 year BUR roof with several areas of leaks.
• R-value efficiency loss from energy inefficient hot capsheet resulting in large air conditioning costs.
• Budget constraints and requirement to avoid costly tear off of existing roof.
• Avoid disruption of Mall retail operations to install new roof.
• Provide a sustainable, cost effective, energy efficient roofing system.

Solution: AcryPly Restoration System

• Seamless, energy efficient roofing system featuring a fully adhered, leak free 120 mil membrane.
• Phased installation within budget avoiding costly tear off and disruption of mall retail operations.
• Substantial energy savings.
• Sustainable and renewable Cool Roof ensuring low maintenance and life cycle costs.

With their new National Coatings AcryPly Cool Roof System, Macerich has restored a failing roof with additional high strength waterproofing and improved their building's energy efficiency, reducing air conditioning costs and the production of greenhouse gases.