National Coatings Blog

In roofing, there are many options to choose from when you need to upgrade and improve your roof. Most options require the installation of a new roof and once your building has two roofs on it, building codes require that you must tear off your existing roofs’ and start new. White roof coating systems allow you to restore your existing roof without ever needing to complete a tear-off because they do not fall in the same weight barring category as other roofing options such as single-plies, asphalt, metal, etc... Choosing a white roof coating system saves thousands of dollars, time, and avoids adding to already overfilled landfills.

Applying a white roof coating to your existing building has multiple benefits derived from their superior capabilities to protect your roof and reflect heat away from your building.  These benefits include but are not limited to increased roof lifespan, provide cost effective solutions, energy savings and efficiency, lowered roof maintenance costs, and these systems are environmentally friendly. White roof coatings have come a long way since they were first introduced into the roofing market. Today, they are able to restore virtually any roofing substrate, such as, Asphalt, BUR, Mod Bit, single-plies including: TPO, EPDM, PVC and Hypalon, Spray Polyurethane Foam (SPF), Metal and Concrete roofing substrates.

How does a White Roof Coating Protect Your Roof?

White roof coating systems protect your roof by adding layers of waterproofing, durability, flexibility and renewability to your roof. Most roof coating systems comprise of a base coat, embedded fabric for extra reinforcement, another base coat, and a white roof coating as the top coat. The white roof coating reflects the majority of the heat from the sun, minimizing the bulk of the heat from being absorbed into the building. This protects the roof by keeping the membrane flexible and less able to dry out and become brittle, protecting your roof from cracks, alligatoring, splitting and/or tearing from occurring.

It is extremely important that a roof is able to remain durable and flexible with changes in weather and temperature as the roof will expand and contract during these fluctuations. White roof coating systems can be renewed every 10 plus years for enhanced protection and lengthened roof life. These systems can allow you to avoid a costly tear-off, saving you a lot of time and money while keeping your business open as usual during application. Ask us how you can benefit from one of these cost saving systems!

How does Reflection Benefit you when using a White Roof Coating?

As described above, white roof coatings reflect heat away from the building, absorbing only a small percentage. This allows you to cut down on energy consumption and air conditioning usage. Energy utility bills can be very large for many companies, using a white roof coating can solve your roofing issues and lower your largest utility bill at the same time. Jerry Moore, the Facilities Director at Harbor Freight Tools noted, “After the National Coatings' Cool Roof was installed we definitely noticed a difference in building temperature. It's not a marginal difference, either. It is between 15-20 degrees cooler inside the warehouse and store." Harbor Freight was able to save and restore their roof without closing down their business or operations during installation, they lowered their energy consumption and energy costs, and they gained a cooler work environment.

White roof coatings are quick and easy to install and provide little to no disruption to your work environment during construction. With all the “freebies” that come with a brand new white roof coating system, its no wonder these roofing systems are becoming so popular.

Interested in more information on our white roof coating systems? Download our FREE Product Brochure or contact a roofing professional for more help!

 

Modern roofing technology has undergone the most explosive proliferation of new technologies, alternative systems, advancements, improvements, and a plethora of "latest and greatest" in its history.  With these new technologies comes the responsibility of the roofing professional to familiarize him or herself with the current state-of-the-art.  
For roofing jobs on existing buildings, the question faced by the roofing professional still remains the same:  should an expensive new roof be installed or is there a retrofit alternative which will prolong the life of the existing roof?  The answer may be a liquid-applied roof coating over the existing aged roof.

Roofing technologies include the traditional built-up roof (BUR), plus newer systems, such as various types of single ply and modified bitumen sheets and spray-applied polyurethane foam with a protective coating.

Since the 1980's, coatings are firmly established as an integral and required part of the urethane foam roofing system.  The type of polyurethane used to make the foam is not durable if left uncoated and will begin to powder and degrade within weeks of application.  Moreover, polyurethane foam is rather brittle and its skin can be cracked from impact with falling debris, heavy foot traffic, or severe hail storms.  Coatings protect the foam from these potential mishaps.

Liquid-applied coatings have also proven their utility over other substrates, and can be used to protect, restore, and prolong the life of aged existing built-up or other conventional roofing systems.  Unlike re-roofing alternatives, they are extremely lightweight, adding virtually nothing to the load on the roof deck or supporting structural members.  In fact, roofs may be re-coated several times without contributing significantly to the load.

Because these coatings can be formulated white, they can be effectively used to impart reflectivity to the roof.  This not only improves aesthetics, but also cools the roofing surface, contributing to longer service life.  Since the surface of the roof is cooler, an additional benefit is a reduction in a demand for air conditioning.  This has been well documented by National Coatings Corporation.  The economic advantages of longer roof service life and reduced energy costs for air conditioning are the economic driving forces for reflective roof coatings.  However, if aesthetics is a key objective, coatings can also be color tinted.

The Differences in Coatings
Technically, these coatings are much more than paints.  By definition, they are liquid-applied, fully-adhered, elastomeric functional membranes formed in-situ on the existing roof.  In the sense of being adherent to the substrate to which they are applied-in this case, the existing roof-they are paint-like.  However, their elastomeric feature, which distinguishes them from paints, means they are also flexible.  This flexibility, or elasticity, must exist not only at one temperature but over the temperature range existing in any particular building's climate.  Elasticity enables the coating to tolerate a roof's movement as it responds to the stresses caused by temperature changes, settling of the foundation, weight loads caused by ice and snow, and seasonal expansion and contraction of the roofing envelope.  These coatings are normally applied at film thicknesses of 20 to 30 dry mils (.020 inch to .030 inch) using a roller, spray, or brush.  By comparison, paints are applied at two to three mils, thus making these roof coatings approximately ten times thicker than traditional paints.
 
Classes of Coatings
Roof coatings can be classified into three types:  solvent, water-based, and 100 percent solids.  Solvent systems are those containing an organic solvent as carrier for the coating.  In this case, solvent evaporation causes the coating to form the membrane on the roof.  Water-based coatings employ water as this carrier.  The third class, albeit less common, is the solvent-free coating where two liquid components are premixed in a specially designed airless spray unit; a chemical reaction causes some of these two-part coatings to dry almost immediately.  Each of these three coating classes has specific advantages and disadvantages relating to the type and presence or absence of solvent.
For more information on roof restoration or roof maintenance – download our FREE Brochure!
Looking for specific information on restoring a roofing substrate? Download one of our specific brochures:

• Single-Ply
• Metal
• Asphalt/BUR/Mod Bit
• SPF