Are foam roofing systems sustainable?

Oak Ridge National Laboratories describes sustainable or 'green' roofing systems as “roofing systems that have a long life, low maintenance, save energy, add durability to buildings, control moisture in buildings, and contribute very little to the waste stream.”

Spray Polyurethane Foam (SPF) roofing systems from Conklin meet every criteria of this definition. SPF roofing systems greatly reduce tear-off's in many re-roofing projects, which also decreases the amount of materials entering the waste stream. In fact, SPF systems manufactured today do not contain any ozone-depleting chemicals, and the energy-saving characteristics can save considerable amounts of fossil fuel and CO2 production, which positively affects global warming.

SPF roof systems arrive on the jobsite in 55-gallon drums that create the foam plastic, which expands 30x its original volume on-site. This saves greatly on the fuel used for transportation. SPF roofing systems also add durability in severe weather events, such as hurricanes, and last more than 30 years with proper installation and maintenance. The R-value is approximately six per inch.

SPF roofing systems are applied above the roof deck and are typically are coated with light-colored, reflective coatings. These systems eliminate thermal bridging by providing a continuous layer of insulation over existing thermal bridges in the roof deck and/or assembly.


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Are cool roofs beneficial in cold climates?

Roof systems like those from Conklin that reflect the sun’s rays can save energy and money in warm climates year-round and during hot summer months in more seasonal climates, but is cool roofing beneficial in climates where over the course of the year heating energy loads dominate cooling? In other words, are cool roofs beneficial in cold climates?

The perfect roof system

The ideal roof would be 100% reflective in the summer and 100% absorbent in the winter, but unfortunately a roof can’t change its reflective and emissive properties, so the general energy efficiency of a cool roof must be assessed by comparing the energy saved during the hot summer months to the energy consumed, or the “heating penalty,” during the heating season.

What skeptics say

Skeptics of the energy benefits of cool roofs claim cold climates where heating degree-days vastly outnumber cooling degree-days, the heating penalty would be severe enough to render a cool roof counterproductive. Heating and cooling degree-days are measures of the number of degrees the average daily temperature falls below or above 65 degrees.The main purpose of heating and cooling degree-days is to serve as an index of heating and cooling energy loads over defined time periods, but they also help determine whether certain building strategies are appropriate for a particular geography.

Calculators developed separately by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory, allow users to enter the thermal properties of the proposed roof, amount of insulation, cost of energy and efficiency of the building’s HVAC systems, among other things. The calculators are not meant to be precise indicators of specific building performance - rather, they help give a general indication of how certain roofing materials with specific thermal properties will perform in various parts of the country. In many cases, even in the cold climates the calculators still yield a yearly net savings for using cool roofs.

Cool roofs counteract the winter heating penalty

There are at least five reasons why the heating penalty in the winter time isn’t nearly as severe as it could be and why the summer cooling savings, to some degree, are able to counteract the winter heating penalty in cold climates:

1. During the winter, the solar angle is lower so reflectivity and absorption aren’t as important. Reflectivity and absorption are more critical during the summer when the sun is higher in the sky and solar radiation is hitting the roof directly.
2. The days during winter months are shorter so less total energy is hitting the roof to be absorbed or reflected over the same period of time as during the summer.
3. The ratio of cloudy to sunny days increases during the winter, so again, not as much solar energy is striking the roof.
4. Snow piled up on the roof during parts of the winter reflects the sun’s energy. Therefore, it doesn’t matter how reflective or absorbent the roof is.
5. In many cases, resources cheaper than electricity, such as natural gas or oil, are used to heat buildings in the winter.

Cool roofs in seasonal climates can be beneficial for other reasons
Cool roofs can have more impact on energy costs than energy use. Cool roofs cut energy use during peak demand times during summer when rates are highest and help reduce the demand charge that a facility pays all year on the basis of its greatest energy use. In fact, some northern utility companies offer rebates and incentives for cool roofs to help cut down on the peak demand load. The idea is to help ensure that there will be enough energy to go around, avoiding brownouts.

"The only building that won’t benefit from a cool roof energy-wise is one that’s not air-conditioned,” says Hashem Akbari, staff scientist and group leader for Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory’s Heat Island Group.

Akbari’s group also researches measures cities can adopt to mitigate the urban heat island effect, another area in which cool roofs are invaluable, even in seasonal climates. The urban heat island effect is a phenomenon wherein dark building materials, dark pavement and lack of vegetation create a 6 to 8 degree difference between downtown areas of major metropolitan cities and outlying suburban areas. The elevated temperature means that cities as a whole and buildings specifically consume more cooling energy. Additionally, as the air temperature increases, air quality decreases, putting people at further risk for smog-related health problems.

Because of the lower roof surface temperature on roofs with a high emissivity and high reflectivity, urban heat islands can be reduced with widespread use of cool roofs. This is true even in cities with seasonal climates. A study performed by Akbari and his team in Toronto shows that if heat-island-reducing measures, including cool roofs, were adopted widely, the city could save more than $10 million a year on energy costs.

On a national level, widespread adoption of cool roofs - independent of other mitigation measures - could save close to $750M in energy costs in major urban areas, LBNL estimates.

“It’s a collective thing for building owners,” says Greg Crawford, executive director of the Cool Metal Roofing Coalition. “If several buildings begin installing reflective roofs, it will lower the temperature of the urban area and reduce the natural load on building systems.”


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Roof asset management - preventive maintenance

All roof systems have a limited lifespan and will eventually require replacement, retrofit, repair, or restoration.

Developing a preventive maintenance plan with your roofing contractor can further extend the life of a roof and save you money by correcting problems before they become major leaks that could cause real structural damage.

Over time, a Roof Asset Management Program can optimize roof performance, save you money, and allow for roof replacement or repairs to be performed on a planned basis - not in reaction to a crisis.

If your roof is new and has been inspected by a roof consultant throughout construction, the final inspection report should provide enough information to establish a maintenance plan and inspection timetable.

For existing roofs, a roof consultant or qualified roofing contractor should thoroughly inspect the roof and provide a written report of findings with a photo survey of roof conditions for your future reference. Based on those findings, work with the roof consultant or roofing contractor to develop projected life-cycle budget cost estimates and establish plans for upcoming maintenance, replacement, or repair.

A good roof-management program should include annual inspections to look for damages - including membrane deterioration, water blisters, ponding water areas, coping impact damage, rusting metal, spray foam oxidation, membrane splits, etc.

If your roof shows signs of deterioration, moisture testing may be recommended:

• Moisture probes are used to check distressed areas for the presence of moisture by probing through the roof surface and taking readings from the moisture meter.
• Infrared scans are infrared snapshots of a roof area taken to detect the possible presence of moisture by recording temperature differentials.
• Nuclear scans utilize a roof grid survey to detect subsurface moisture.
• Roof core samples are an investigative hole is cut through the roof and insulation to document conditions in suspect areas (the hole is patched upon completion).

The goal of both new construction and re-roofing review and ongoing roof-management programs is to protect the interest you (the building owner or manager), to extend the life of your roof, and to prevent costly leaks and damage.


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How to prevent premature roof failures

When a roof wears out, it can tell a lot about why exactly it is failing. Each type of failure - blisters, splits, punctures, etc. typically result from a very specific cause.

One example is poor roof system design, which can lead to splits and debris that cause punctures. Understanding what causes the most common types of roof problems can help you, the building owner or facility managers prevent the errors that all too often shorten the life of the roofs.

It all begins with the design of your roof and material choice.
The roof membrane you choose should reflect the characteristics of your building. If there is going to be a lot of foot traffic, you should choose a roof system that is resistant to the associated damage. If the roof is wide open where there can be significant thermal movement, a more stretchable material such as an EPDM membrane might be a better choice than a system that has limited elongation.

Details must be carefully thought out prior to installing your roof system.
For example, a transition from a gravel stop to a parapet wall is a poor design that must be compensated for in the roof design. A metal transition piece can help alleviate problems that occur as a result of differential movement and different directional movement between the gravel-stop portion and the parapet portion. Also, correcting slope-to-drain problems should be determined early (in the design stage).

The roof must also be properly installed, using dry materials and installed according to the design details and/or manufacturer’s requirements.
Expansion joints have to terminate in a way that the end of the joint will still compensate for building movement. This means that there should be no material crossing the joint — not gravel stops, copings, membrane, and certainly not roofing cement — that cannot flex or move with the natural movement of your building. All seams should be properly adhered.

Finally, the roof must also be properly maintained.
Access to your building's roof should be limited to only those who need to be up there. Keep smokers, lunches and sunbathers off the roof. Not only will cigarettes burn holes in the membrane, but the foot traffic will damage the surface and cause your roof to fail prematurely. Someone in the building should monitor the activity of sign installers and window washers to be sure that they are not damaging the roof when they are up there to work. HVAC installations should be flashed not by the mechanical contractor, but by a competent roofing contractor to be sure that the penetrations are properly sealed.

The roof itself should be examined twice a year, including having the drains cleared and all roof debris removed. Any small problem like a puncture or sealant failure should be addressed at this time to be sure they do not cause problems that lead to failures. The life of a roof is finite, but it doesn’t have to be short-lived. Some common sense when designing the roof, attention to detail when installing it, and proper care will maximize the life of your roof.


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Conklin's Rapid Roof III Takes a Beating and Still Clobbers the Competition

A side-by-side assessment of Rapid Roof III over foam and a similar competitive product illustrated the amazing superiority of the Conklin product compared to the competition.

A 2010 investigation of an Oklahoma City roof coated with both Rapid Roof and the competitor’s product compared a 10’ x 10’ area of each application, and showed the following:

• The depth of the damage from hail strikes was between an eighth and a quarter of an inch on the Rapid Roof sample, and up to six times deeper on the competitive sample.
• The distance between strikes was far greater on the Conklin sample than on the competitive sample, which showed a tight pattern of damage.
• The total number of strikes that showed damage was 13 on the Conklin sample, and 105 on the competitive sample!

A “veteran” of the Conklin Roofing Systems product line, Rapid Roof III has been taking on Mother Nature for over 25 years . . . and is still on a winning streak. And like all of our Conklin roof coatings, it’s unstoppable against the competition!

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Cold Call + Cool Roof Recommendation = A Sizzling Opportunity for Conklin IBO Delmarva Roofing & Coating, Inc.

When Conklin Roofing Systems Independent Business Owner Sheldon Swartzentruber made a cold call to Playtex® Products, Inc. to offer his roofing services, he was given a job nobody wanted – re-roofing the facility’s boiler room. Other contractors, it seems, had experienced problems with re-roofing the area over the boiler room because of the heat stacks, and no one was interested in that particular task.

A perfect job for Conklin’s spray foam roof system
Sheldon’s successful re-roof of the Playtex boiler room led to several more small jobs, until eventually Playtex began accepting his bids for larger jobs. Now his company, Delmarva Roofing & Coating, Inc., re-coats a section of roof per year for Playtex on average, and Sheldon has had the opportunity to try a number of Conklin systems on the expansive Dover, DE facility.

“To date, we have installed Conklin foam and coating on approximately 400,000 square feet of the facility,” says Sheldon. “The majority of jobs that we do for Playtex are spray foam systems,” he continues, “but we frequently use the Single-Ply system on sections of new construction, because architects tend to prefer membrane systems — and the 15-year warranty that we offer with them.” Sheldon’s team has applied Hy-Crown® membrane on approximately 180,000 square feet of the facility.

Old is New Again
Delmarva's next Playtex job involved renewing Conklin’s superior protection on the two original sections of foam and coating that were put down almost two decades ago – an 18,000 square-foot section, to which Sheldon originally applied a Conklin roof in 1991, and a 56,700 square-foot section that Sheldon originally coated with Conklin systems in 1993. “At that time,” says Sheldon, “I figured that each of those roofs would last about 12–15 years. Now almost 20 years later, the roofs are still problem-free and going strong — they’re just in need of a warranty renewal.”

In addition to the exceptional long-term performance of Conklin Roofing Systems, says Sheldon, “building owners like our roofs because they’re environmentally friendly, and also kind to the customer’s bottom line.”


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ROOFING CONTRACTORS NEEDED IN MULTIPLE STATES!
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