4 Common Types of Roof Insulation

Specifying insulation that extends a roof system’s performance life is essential, but it is only one factor building owners and managers must consider. When managers select roof insulation, they also must account for the building’s thermal needs, satisfy applicable energy codes, and deliver a roof assembly acceptable to your facility’s insurance carrier.

To perform successfully, insulation has to become an integral part of the roof assembly and must function in concert with the membrane and the structural deck. Wise insulation choices result in successful roof systems that perform over the long term, while poor choices can be detrimental to roof performance. We can help you select the best option for your needs. Below, we discuss the 4 typical types of roof insulation.

Insulation Types 
A variety of rigid insulation types are available to you, including wood fiber, perlite, polyisocyanurate, expanded or extruded polystyrene, cellular glass, and gypsum board.

Wood fiber is an organic insulation board composed of wood, cane, or vegetable fibers mixed with fillers and binders. The insulation can be asphalt impregnated or asphalt coated to enhance moisture resistance. You may want to consider uncoated insulation in applications where the selected roof covering is incompatible with asphalt-based coatings.

Perlite insulation board is composed of inorganic, expanded siliceous volcanic glass (perlite) combined with organic fibers and binders. The top surface of the insulation board features an asphalt coating or a proprietary coating formulated to limit adhesive — asphalt — absorption into the insulation during the roof-membrane application.

Polyisocyanurate is a closed-cell foam plastic insulating core sandwiched between organic or inorganic felt facers, glass-fiber mat facers, or glass-fiber-reinforced aluminum foil facers. A blowing agent expands the foam material, creating the closed-cell structure that gives the insulation its high thermal resistance. Polyisocyanurate’s insulating efficiency remains higher than other rigid insulation.

Gypsum Board is a non-structural, non-combustible, water-resistant, treated gypsum core panel. The board is available with a proprietary, non-asphaltic coating on one side to enhance roof-membrane adhesion. Gypsum board typically is used as a cover board over foam-plastic insulations, as a thermal barrier over a steel deck, or as a vapor-retarder substrate.

Overview
There are numerous ways of increasing thermal resistance with insulation, which offers you the opportunity to save thousands of dollars in operating costs. On your next project, we’ll work with you to find the solution that fits both your needs and budget. We’ll develop solutions to maximize rebates and R-Values while meeting necessary building codes.

What is the Urban Heat Island Effect?

An urban heat island (UHI) is a metropolitan area which is significantly warmer than its surrounding rural areas. The phenomenon was first investigated and described by Luke Howard in the 1810s. The temperature difference usually is larger at night than during the day, and is most apparent when winds are weak.

Seasonally, UHI is seen during both summer and winter. The main cause of the urban heat island is modification of the land surface by urban development which uses materials which effectively retain heat. Waste heat generated by energy usage is a secondary contributor. As population centers grow they tend to modify a greater and greater area of land and have a corresponding increase in average temperature.

Monthly rainfall is greater downwind of cities, partially due to the UHI. Increases in heat within urban centers increases the length of growing seasons, and decreases the occurrence of weak tornadoes. The UHI decreases air quality by increasing the production of pollutants such as ozone, and decreases water quality as warmer waters flow into area streams, which stresses their ecosystems.

Mitigation of the urban heat island effect can be accomplished through the use of green roofs and the use of lighter-colored surfaces in urban areas, which reflect more sunlight and absorb less heat.

Your Roof's Best Friend

Preventative Maintenance
There is no better friend to your roof than good, quality and proactive roof care. As much as we wish it wasn't so, your roof begins to deteriorate the day it’s installed. While yes, the membrane and perimeter metals are designed to last for many years, the sealants and flashings that complete the system simply do not. Most leaks do not develop overnight. They develop from a steady process of deterioration that can be identified early and fixed at a substantially lower expense. Florida’s top building owners and managers recognize this and implement an cost efficient program to eliminate these problems.

Pre and Post-Storm Inspections
In our hostile Florida environment, extreme weather is a consistent threat. Gale force winds and storm debris can be a serious threat to your roof. Equipment can become damaged, strong winds can dislodge components of the system and vegetative debris can clog drainage area, all leading to serious and potentially dangerous scenarios. It’s smart and effective to ensure your roof is ready for any storm and determine if any damage was sustained after the threat has passed.

Quality Workmanship
There are over 5,000 registered roofing contractors in Florida alone. There is not a single day where RAMCON is not asked to visit a facility and correct improper repairs completed by a sub-par contractor. Quality workmanship ensures that a repair is done the right way and endures as an integral component of the roofing system. Remember, all repairs must be completed within the manufacturer’s specifications to maintain complete warranty coverage.

Keeping That Roof Clean
It’s a fact, a clean roof lasts longer and remains more energy efficient that a dirty one. Add to this the advent of “rated” reflective roofing, cleaning your roofing system is clearly a necessary task. As light colored membranes accumulate dirt, the reflectance value will decrease. Therefore without regular cleaning, you will not fully benefit from the value of reflectivity as roofs become soiled and lose their energy savings  potential. Additionally, dirty membranes and debris will cause the material to prematurely deteriorate. and may actually damage the system.

How to Get the Most From Your Roofing Budget: Repair, Replace, or Recover?

During the Great Recession, if you’re like most facility managers and owners, you’ve been saving money anywhere you possible could. Because of this, you have been putting off reroofing and have been patching as best you can to make it just one more year. Finally, you have money in the budget to reroof. But should you? How do you know when it is really time to reroof? How do you proceed? Which way do you go — do you tear off the whole thing down to the deck and start fresh or do you re-cover what is already there or do you do something entirely different? Ultimately, the question is when it comes to getting the most from your roofing budget, do you repair, replace or re-cover?

The first question to ask yourself is whether you really need a new roof. Generally, if your roof needed replacing before the recession, it still needs replacing now, and probably even more so. However, if you have managed to stretch the roof’s life the past few years, there may be some left in the old roof. So the first step is evaluate it, and RAMCON can assist you at no-cost to you.

Look at your roof to evaluate the condition. Are there widespread leaks or leaks that just cannot be found? Start by walking around the interior and keeping an eye out for water stains. If you have not been constantly changing out ceiling tiles, the location and size of water stains will help analyze the frequency and pattern of the leakage. It may be that the stains are showing that your leaks are really at your windows, not your roof. If that is the case, you have just saved yourself the cost of reroofing.

Next, take a walk around the perimeter of your building. If you can see all the way to the top of the building (which may not be possible on a downtown high-rise) check to see if there is water staining on the walls. This may show that you have wall problems, not roofing issues.

Then tour the roof itself. Look at the membrane. Is it cracking or blistering? Can you see the fiberglass or polyester reinforcing? Is the surface breaking down? Are the seams loose or open? These are good clues that the roof has aged to the end of its life.

Walk the perimeter of the roof and around mechanical equipment and other penetrations. Are the flashings from the membrane up the vertical sides intact? Are they loose, cracked, absent, punctured, missing surfacing, or otherwise deteriorated? Now examine the metal accessories and penetration flashings. These are items like goose necks, vent pipes, equipment stands, duct stands, ventilator fans, metal edges, copings on parapets, etc. Look carefully at the way they were waterproofed. Is the sealant used intact (regardless of whether it is roofing cement, asphalt, pourable sealer or liquid applied materials) or has it shrunk, cracked or peeled from the, penetration? Are the metal accessories (such as gravel stops, curbs, hoods, ducts, counter flashings, copings, goosenecks, etc.) corroded, punctured, missing, or otherwise deteriorated?

Roof damage generally starts at these perimeter and penetration details. If you notice widespread problems with flashings then this is  also a good clue that the roof is in poor condition. RAMCON can assist, or perform this survey for you, at no-expense to you. If you find you do have these problems, they won’t get better on their own. Your best solution is to call RAMCON to determine the best solution to identify the source and take corrective action to solve it the right way.

Let’s Say Your Roof Is Deteriorated and Needs A Re-Roof
Once you have found that you really do need to reroof, you have another decision to make. There are two ways to proceed — re-covering the roof or tearing it off and replacing it. Be aware that code may mandate a tear-off and replacement. Florida Building Code requires that a roof be torn off if there are two roof systems already in place. Also, for safety reasons, decks that corrode, disintegrate, or rot require a tear off if there is any doubt about the deck condition. Sometimes it is also possible that your insurance carrier may require replacement.

Re-covering is installing a new roof system without removing the existing one. Re-covering has some definite advantages. For one thing, you save the cost and mess of tear-off. This is a special advantage for buildings with limited access for trash removal. What’s more, the building does not get exposed to the weather during reroofing. This is a large consideration for buildings that are absolutely critical to be dry at all times. Another benefit is that you contribute less debris to the landfill. Finally, you can add new insulation to the existing insulation and increase your roof’s R-value.

But there are also some disadvantages. With a re-cover, you won’t know the condition of the deck below the roof and whether or not it is in safe condition. You still need to tear out any wet roofing as wet materials will contribute to premature failure of the new roof.

Another issue to be aware of is that adding height to the roof elevation may interfere with overflow scupper drainage, or be higher than door thresholds or wall flashings, causing leakage that you didn’t have before. The new roof has to be very carefully designed to be sure that the drainage and flashing heights are not compromised by the new roof (although RAMCON will do this for you).

RAMCON performs a Thermal IR moisture survey before we install a re-cover system. Generally speaking, if your roof is more than about 25 percent wet or deteriorated substrate, you have reached the point of diminishing returns, where the cost of taking out the wet areas and patching in new dry materials wipes out the economic advantage of the re-cover.

As you move forward on your roofing projects, use your resources at RAMCON. We’ll assist you in fully documenting the conditions, providing code and performance reviews and design the right system or repair for both you needs and budget.

Roof Management: Timely Maintenance

Contrary to popular opinion, the maintenance-free roof system does not exist. All types of roofs require a certain level of attention. In fact, from the moment of installation, the roofing system undergoes continuous deterioration. Extreme temperature fluctuations as well as rain, hail and wind prevail upon the roofing surface. In short, the elements are the biggest deterrents to the roof system over its service life. Traffic on the roof and the installation of mechanical and other equipment can also cause physical damage that contributes significantly to roofing failures.

Roofs are exposed to the elements 24 hours a day, every day of the year. In summer, the roof surface temperature can exceed 200 degrees F. In winter, the roof surface can be exposed to extensive expansion and contraction due to Florida’s varying winter temperatures. And during many storms, the roof faces winds stronger than any other exterior building components are exposed to.

The most important reason to implement an annual roof maintenance program is to extend the service life of the existing roof system. Comprehensive repairs not only make the roof last longer, but also provide cost savings to the facility executive. A good maintenance program will detect or prevent leaks and other roofing problems. This way problems are addressed at their initial stage, which allows the facility executive  the ability to avoid additional expenditures for such items as deck damage repair and associated costs resulting from typical maintenance practices, which simply respond to leaks.

Development of maintenance guidelines is based on the profile of the roof systems in place. Roof maintenance is like mortgage insurance. A manageable yearly expense could provide the dividend of a roof system that meets or exceeds its anticipated service life. For instance, a 20-year roof system will protect the interior operations of the building for the full 20 years; any service life that extends beyond this time could be considered free money. Every year that the roof system is extended an additional year means the facility executive does not have to spend a substantial amount for remedial roof construction.

Saving Money With Roof Maintenance
Every facility should have an ongoing preventative maintenance program to ensure the full life of the roofing system is reached. What many managers don’t realize is that preventative maintenance will save them thousands of dollars over the life of the roof. If preventative maintenance can increase the life span of the roof just 1 additional year, you break even on the costs. For each additional year the roof is prolonged, the savings multiply. Discover how you can save at www.ramconroofing.com or give us a call today at 877-726-2661.