Love your roof? Want it to last you for years and withstand all of nature’s fury without costing a fortune in repairs or replacements? Then invest wisely by getting yourself with the help of a top-quality roof coating. Roof coatings make roofs more durable, waterproofing them against natural elements like rainwater & snowmelt, and protect roofs from the sun’s harmful UV rays.

Behind elements like rain and wind, the sun is one of the leading destroyers of roofing systems. Prolonged sun exposure can lead to your roofing materials cracking, curling, and tearing.

The sun not only affects the exterior of your home but during hot summer months; it also drastically increases the temperature on the interior. These increased temperatures often lead to increased energy usage from things like fans and air conditioning systems – which can be a major cause for concern when calculating monthly energy bills.

But what if we told you that there’s a way that you can protect your roof from the sun’s harmful UV rays as well as keep the temperatures inside your home moderate and cool.

Scientists at the University of Purdue in Indiana have developed an “ultra-white” paint capable of reflecting 98% percent of the sun’s rays and only absorbing 1.9%. This high reflectivity, combined with the low absorption rate, means your home will stay cool when the temperature outside begins to heat up. Previously developed “cool roof” coatings could only reflect 80%-90% sunlight which meant that homes heated up more quickly during summer months.

The “ultra white” paint development was part of a six-year project, lead by Xiulin Ruan, a mechanical engineer at the University of Purdue.

The paint was created by adding barium sulfate to acrylic paint. The barium sulfate particles are believed to spread the sun’s rays, thereby cooling the object. These properties are why Ruan and his team believe that this may be a solution for future air conditioning systems.

“If you were to use this paint to cover a roof area of about 1,000 square feet, we estimate that you could get a cooling power of 10 kilowatts,” said Ruan. “That’s more powerful than the central air conditioners used by most houses.”

The development of the paint marks a significant step in the fight against global warming. If the paint were to be used on an industrial scale, it would drastically reduce energy spent on air conditioning systems and thus significantly reduce the carbon footprints of both businesses and households. The paint can be applied not only as roof coatings but also onto exterior walls of homes and buildings and on things such as decks and flooring.

The study was published in the ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces journal.

For more information on roof coatings, cool roofs, or any other roofing queries, don’t hesitate to call Integrity Pro Roofing today!