As the weather warms up, you may wonder how to prevent the heating of your roof on summer days. The best way to do that is to choose a cool roof solution for your commercial roofing system. Let’s look at the different commercial flat roof types and how we can make them cool and energy efficient.
Types of Energy Efficient Flat Roofs
Commercial flat roof membranes become energy efficient when they have solar reflectance, or the ability to reflect the sun’s rays. Here’s how the different types of flat roof membranes can become cooler and more energy efficient, according to the Department of Energy:
- Single-Ply Membranes: Single-ply commercial membranes are coolest and most energy efficient when they are white rather than black. Black membranes absorb heat and solar UV rays, making your facility hotter and less energy efficient. EPDM membranes come in both white and black, so choose a white EPDM membrane to reflect heat and UV rays.
- Built-Up Roofing (BUR) Membranes: BUR membranes often have a dark protective surface coating that holds their base and reinforcement layers together. You can improve a built-up roof’s energy efficiency and coolness by using gray slag, reflective marble chips, or reflective granules in its top protective layer instead of a typical dark protective layer.
- Modified Bitumen Membranes: A modified bitumen membrane is a variation on a BUR membrane. It has layers of plastic or rubber embedded with bitumen granules layers between reinforcement fabrics. Modified bitumen membranes become cooler and more energy efficient when they receive cool roof factory coatings from their manufacturers.
Each of these types of roofing membranes has the ability to increase your energy efficiency. All you need to maximize that energy efficiency is the right roofing partner.
Why Does Your Roof’s Energy Efficiency Matter?
Your commercial roof’s energy efficiency matters because the way your roof reflects heat and UV rays affects your entire building. If your roof absorbs large amounts of heat, then your HVAC system has to work harder to cool your building in warm weather months. Similarly, if your roof lets lots of heat escape during cold weather months, your HVAC system works harder to heat the facility. Having an energy-efficient roof and insulation allows your roof to work well with your facility’s energy systems so the HVAC and other systems don’t have to work harder than they need to.
How Does Insulation Improve Your Facility’s Energy Efficiency?
Commercial flat roof insulation helps insulate your facility from the elements. Depending on the weather outside, it can keep heat inside the building or help let it out. There are different types of insulation, and you need the type that fits best with the type of roofing membrane that your facility has. When you pair the right roof membrane with the right insulation type, they work together to reflect UV rays and excess heat in warmer months. Then you have an energy-efficient, cool, and thermal roof that helps you increase and maintain energy savings. How? When your roof and insulation protect your facility from the elements, your energy systems don’t work too hard, so your energy bills are manageable.
How Does Kirberg Make Your Commercial Roof Energy Efficient?
We use our range of commercial roofing services to improve your roof’s energy efficiency. Our commercial roof repairs fix trouble spots, such as wet areas on the roof surface, that may hamper your roof’s performance. We also provide roof restoration services, where we spray coatings on a commercial roof to restore worn membranes so they better reflect heat and UV rays. Of course, if your roof membrane has reached the end of its lifespan, we also offer roof replacement services. When we replace your flat roof, we install a membrane that reflects UV rays and keeps heat out during the summer. We pair it with insulation that traps heat during the winter, but keeps your facility cool in warm weather. Overall, we build energy efficiency into our commercial roofing services.
Reach out to us today to improve your commercial roof’s energy efficiency. We customize our services for each of our customers. When we work on your roof, we provide only the services you need in ways that boost your roof’s performance.
