Cool Roofs in Summer Heat
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Date: August 29, 2014
Contact: Jamie Barnett, 877-823-7873, jamie@surecoatsystems.com
Throughout the Western United States, cool roofs are used to reduce energy costs, prolong the life of traditional roofs and lower roof maintenance costs.
Anaheim, CA – Are you interested in reducing your energy costs? Do you want to extend the life of your roof and save thousands over a tear-off and the “unknown factor” once your roof is removed? Then you want a cool roof.
COOL ROOFS IN SUMMER HEAT
All over the globe, throughout the Western United States and especially in the Mid-West, cool roofs are used to reduce energy costs, prolong the life of traditional roof systems and lower roofing maintenance costs.
Cool roofs have proven to save on energy costs, especially cooling costs in the hot summer months. But not all cool roofs are created equal. Be careful not to flush your energy saving investment down the “roof drain”. Manufacturers of acrylic roof coatings and silver or aluminum roof coatings DO NOT recommend these products be installed over low-slope roofs with ponding water (water that sits 48 hours after rain). If you are a commercial property owner or commercial roofing contractor, you know that all roofs pond water to some degree. Most commonly these ponding areas are in the drains and waterways and more commonly than not, throughout the field of the roof. Look at the figures below and think about this… How long will your “cool roof” remain a “cool roof”?
Typically installed over an emulsion and fiber reinforced base coat, the waterproofing portion of this type of roof restoration system, acrylic cool roof coatings and reflective aluminum coatings just don’t hold up to moisture and UV. These types of roof coatings can only reflect the UV while they are on the roof. Once they peel, crack and lift, you are left with a hot, heat-absorbing black roof that does not contain any UV resistance. 
The photos show typical results 
of acrylic roof coatings, even those used in conjunction with a waterproofing emulsion base coat. The roofs displayed in the photos above were only 6 months to 3 years old at the time the photos were taken. The manufacturers of these coatings specifically state in their installation specification, “not to use in areas where water ponds”.
This information was either not passed along to the contractor or ignored by the installing contractor. These emulsion and acrylic roof systems are inexpensive because the materials are inexpensive. However these systems are far from free. The majority of the costs for these types of roofing systems are the labor costs. These systems are not designed to be sustainable cool roofs. Once the white coating or silver coating peels away, the cool roof and all its energy saving, heat emitting values are completely lost.
The warranty on these roofing materials claim the roof will be leak free for a period of time but not a cool roof for any period of time. The black emulsion is the waterproofing, not the white acrylic. The reflective acrylic coatings always peel up on commercial low-slope roofs and industrial flat roofs, exposing the emulsion waterproofing. The Ultra-Violet (UV) and thermal protective membrane is gone and the roof is no longer a cool roof.
The upside: The SureCoat Roof System is a completely seamless, renewable and sustainable cool roof membrane. A SureCoat Roof will remain a waterproof roof as well as a cool roof for the entire life of the warranty. SureCoat Systems manufacturer’s written material warranty states that “The SureCoat Roof System will not leak due to ordinary ponding water caused by natural precipitation”.
Since the SureCoat Roof is a solid core of a single material, as the roof wears, the heat emitting thermal values and UV reflective values remain throughout the life cycle of the roof. When a SureCoat Roof becomes dirty, a simple cleaning with SureSkrub, a biodegradable cleaner, will turn a SureCoat Roof bright white again which will recapture nearly all the initial reflectivity. You cannot scrub any other coating system without it lifting as shown in the pictures below.
The thermal heat emitting values of a SureCoat roof always remain exceedingly high at 93%, creating a Solar Reflective Index (SRI) of 102 after aged and dirty. SureCoat was engineered for large commercial low-slope roofs and large industrial flat roofs that pond water, as all large low-slope roofs pond to some degree.
DON’T LET THIS HAPPEN TO YOU… PROTECT YOUR ASSETS AND YOUR INVESTMENT WITH A PRODUCT THAT YOU ARE SURE ABOUT. FIELD TESTED AND MOTHER NATURE APPROVED!
SPF/Foam Flat Roof Restoration in Pennsylvania
FEATURED CONTRACTOR CAVALIER CONSTRUCTION
Cavalier Construction – SureCoat Systems’ Featured Contractor for December 2012, installed The SureCoat Roof System over 32,000 square feet of SPF/Foam Roof at a rate of 4 gallons per square (100 sq. ft.) with a 10 year renewable warranty at no additional cost with Ponding Water Coverage.
HAYSITE Manufacturing Facility of Reinforced Plastics – ERIE, PA
This facility is Haysite, located in Erie, PA, and is a manufacturing plant of reinforced plastics and fiber glass panels which are commonly used for insulation in various industries. Tim worked with the plant engineer at Haysite for about a year before he had a signed deal. There was a lot of research that went into which product Cavalier would specify and bid on this job and additional work on the part of the plant engineer, who received several bids from various contractors in the area for different product recommendations. The one thing that was important to this plant engineer was that there was real warranty coverage for ponding water. In addition, he needed to protect his foam roof from UV exposure. SureCoat was the ideal Cold FAR (fluid applied roofing) system and Tim knew it. He said that his proposal won hands-down when compared to all the others based on the warranty coverage, price and overall superior product.
