Is Your Roof Ready?

Your roof is often the only line of defense against Mother Nature’s fury. At this point, do you know the conditions that exist on your roofs? Not just your anticipated maintenance expenses and such, but which pitch pockets have issues or if there are voids or punctures in the membrane? Are the drainage ports properly sealed?

If you are not sure, give us a call now. As a RAMCON client, we will send an inspection crew at no expense to inspect your roof and determine how the roof is performing and if there are any areas that are likely to allow for direct water intrusion.

We’ll bring the existing assembly, age, conditions and concerns to your attention so you can make an educated decision towards how you wish to address the problems. There’s no sales pitch and no gimmicks, just a chance for us to help our clients and bring peace of mind.

To schedule your inspection for this week, please call (813) 663-9667 and ask to schedule a roof inspection. We’ll handle the rest and you’ll have all the resources you need.

How To Extend Your Manufacturer's No Dollar Limit Warranty

There are many opportunities that manufacturer’s provide to extend the length of your warranty coverage. Now, not all roofing systems are eligible, however many are. Here is how to do it:

1.) Call RAMCON and ask how to extend your roof warranty. We’ll ask a few questions, such as the roofing system installed, manufacturer, and existing warranty length and expiration date. If you don’t have all the answers, we can certainly help obtain them.

2.) We’ll coordinate to bring the manufacturer on site, who will do a comprehensive analysis of the roof assembly and determine any concerns that exist.

3.) The roof will have to be brought ‘up to par’ and any concerns that were noted corrected. Once this is complete and a modest warranty extension fee paid directly to the manufacturer, you can have your NDL warranty extended for many years.

For some manufacturer’s, if you properly and effectively implement a preventive maintenance program (such as the Silver or Gold levels of the RAMCON program), you can get a 25% length warranty extension at no cost! This means, a 20 year NDL warranty is now a 25 year NDL warranty and you do not have to pay a penny.

For more information or to get started, please call (813) 663-9667 or email info@ramconroofing.com

Are White Roofs Cooler and More Energy Efficient than Non-White Roofs?

Recently, a team set out to determine if white roofs are indeed cooler and more energy efficient than non-white roofs. A roof in Tampa, FL was a perfect choice for this in-depth cool roof study.

The team installed HOBO data loggers from Onset Computer Corporation directly on the roof surfaces and in the low-traffic, non-air conditioned stairwells of both a new TPO single-ply roofing system just installed on a building and a building next door in the same corporate plaza (which still has the original ballasted EPDM roof system in place.) It was a perfect “before and after” condition, being that the results would be based on identical weather conditions as opposed to data from one year to the next on the same building, where many different variables could negatively affect the results.

The temperature sensors on the roof surfaces were secured under the exact materials used in each of the current roof systems, as to not allow for the direct sunlight to impact the readings and to give an accurate surface temperature on each building. The temperature sensors placed in the non-air conditioned stairwells were secured three feet from the roof hatch and directly to the concrete roof deck to measure the energy efficiency of the roof systems (in other words, they measured how much heat was being transferred through the concrete deck into the inside of the building).

The sensors measured both the roof surface and stairwell temperatures on both buildings every hour, 24 hours per day from August 6th to September 4th. During the data collection period, both buildings had primarily hot sunny days, with a few rain storms sprinkled in which allowed for near perfect test conditions.

The conditions of this study were near perfect for multiple reasons. First, they are virtually identical buildings that are side-by-side. Second, one building had the old roof system and the other had the new cool roof system –a before-and-after analysis at the same time and under the same conditions could be completed.

Conclusion #1: White Roofs Reduce Thermal Shock
The first thing that caught our attention was the significant reduction of thermal shock, which is a direct result of the more consistent cool roof surface and internal building temperatures of the new TPO roof.

Thermal shock was minimized by slowing down the rate of temperature change (both up and down) on the roof surface, which in turn nearly eliminated the rate of temperature change inside the building. The only other way to minimize thermal shock is to use materials with much greater strength, increased thermal conductivity and reduced coefficient of thermal expansion – but that approach is more expensive and doesn’t guarantee as favorable of results.

The rate of change in temperature inside the older EPDM building was expected – it heats up fast, and cools down even faster. But even more surprising was just how regulated the temperature inside the new TPO roof building is. The variation in temperature in the EPDM stairwell is 3.75 times that of the new roof building stairwell. In fact, there is so little temperature variation in the new roof building stairwell now that we are led to assume that internal thermal shock may be eliminated completely, and that maintaining a constant internal temperature is much easier as well!

Between 10:00pm and 6:00am, the buildings were very similar in temperature internally, but the EPDM roof building is always hotter than the TPO roof building. At 8:00am the EPDM building begins to heat up dramatically while the TPO roof building remains virtually unchanged. Later, between 5:00pm and 8:00pm, the EPDM roof building cools down even faster than it heats up – and again the TPO roof building keeps a constant internal temperature.

Conclusion #2: White Roofs Increase Energy Efficiency
Over the course of a typical hot August day in Tampa, FL, a white roof is 4.62% cooler (more energy efficient) than a non-white roof. During the hottest point in the day inside the building (5:00pm), a white roof is 8.49% cooler (more energy efficient) than a non-white roof. During the maximum internal temperature increase hours of 7:00am – 5:00pm, a white roof is 6.97% cooler (more energy efficient) than a non-white roof.

Based on this data, we would suspect that the August kilowatt consumption of the building with the new TPO roof should have reduced by approximately 7.00% or more from the previous year (when it had a ballasted EPDM roof), assuming all other items remaining equal.

In August 2010 (before the new roof was installed), the facility consumed 719,000 kilowatts of electricity. According to the maintenance supervisor, all other items remained virtually unchanged from 2010, and that the installation of the TPO roof system was the only substantial difference in 2011. In August 2011, the kilowatt consumption was 663,000 – a 7.79% decrease (or $6,450) in electricity required to cool the building (much more energy efficient.)

Again, this is on a building with a concrete roof deck. If the building had a steel or plywood roof deck, the energy savings would be even greater.

Conclusion #3: White Roofs Reduce Roof Surface Temperatures
The TPO cool roof is on average 12 degrees (13.57%) cooler than the EPDM roof. But that includes overnight when there is no direct sunlight.

At 12:00pm is the largest difference in roof surface temperature over the course of our study, when the average outside temperature was 90.66°F. The EPDM roof was on average 156.28°F at that time, but the TPO roof was only 108.59°F. That’s a difference of 49.69 degrees - quite significant to the long-term survival of rooftop equipment (as well as the building’s facilities workers).

The rate of roof surface temperature increase between 6:00am and 8:00am were similar on both buildings, but the EPDM roof kept getting hotter while the TPO building started to level off. Also, the TPO building cooled off more gradually than the EPDM building, which heats up really fast and becomes extremely hot, and then cools down at a faster rate (although it never gets cooler than the TPO roof). It isn’t until 7:00pm when they come back to the same rate of temperature change. This is another indication of reduction in thermal shock with the TPO cool roof.

For more information on cool roofing systems and how they can impact your facility and bottom line, visit www.RAMCONRoofing.com or call us at (877) 726-2661.

Join RAMCON at the 2013 Florida Building and Facility Maintenance Show

April 24th-25th: 2013 
Booth #609

Stop by and see us at the 2013 Florida Building and Facility Maintenance show at the Florida State Fairgrounds this month. This is an excellent opportunity to meet members of the RAMCON team and put a face with a name. Doors open at 10:00 am and close at 3:00 pm.

There are also numerous free educational sessions focusing specifically around building maintenance and operation throughout the day. For more information, please visit www.fb-fm.com.

Roof Assessment: Five Key Questions

In an era of continued tight budgets, consolidated responsibilities, and a myriad of other challenges that maintenance and engineering managers must deal with daily, it is no wonder organizations embark upon major capital roofing projects with a mind set of, “whatever is easiest and most convenient.” More often than not, that mind set produces a roof that does not deliver the expected performance life, and long term problems eventually develop.

Roof Assessment
Before engaging in a roof replacement, you should carefully consider the exact reasons for replacing the roof. Questions to ask and answer are:
• Am I engaging in this project as a reaction to leaks?
• Am I engaging in this project because current warranties have expired?
• Does the roof really need replacement, or is it a candidate for restoration?
• Should I consider retrofitting the roof?
• Are strategic repairs a viable option?

The real challenge for you is deciding the most appropriate and cost-effective course of action. As soon as we take the mind set that the roof is a real asset and deserves the same treatment as any other valuable piece of equipment, the next step is to properly assess the actual condition of the roof and prioritize its replacement or repair based on actual conditions. This is where RAMCON steps in (at no cost to you) and does a detailed, comprehensive evaluation of the conditions of the assembly. Before making any decision on specifying a new roof or repairing the existing system, we need to perform a total assessment of the roof. RAMCON can even perform a thermal infrared survey to determine if any of the substrate of the system (insulation, cover boards, etc.) are wet.

Too often, a roof project begins with a thumbnail outline of services and progresses with bids, based on nothing more substantial than a contractor’s sales pitch. The lowest price typically drives the manager’s purchasing decision. Accompanying these components in many cases are questionable warranties manufacturers provide solely to make managers and owners feel safe by accepting the lowest bid. This is a recipe for disaster. You’re not comparing apples to apples, you may not be getting the warranty you need and the truth is, most contractors are going to sell you whatever they install, not necessarily what’s best for your facility. 

When You Are Having Roofing Problems
When you’re having roofing problems, give us a call and we’ll perform a detailed, comprehensive roof evaluation to determine what exactly is going on up there…at no cost to you. You’ll always get a menu of solutions and recommendations that will solve the problem and save you money. When you need accurate and professional designs and proposals, we are the go to place for Florida’s leading contractors and facility managers. We are an approved applicator and servicer for EVERY manufacturer and we install just about EVERY type of system. With RAMCON, you get what’s right for your specific facility…nothing less. And with 38 million square feet of roof installed, we still maintain the highest quality rating in the state. Put our team at RAMCON to work for you and we’ll help you make educated decisions based on facts.