By David Barron

Call them!! They will explain the latest technology in reflective and insulative paint coating systems designed to pay for themselves over the life of the paint job. It will protect and reflect from your roof to your foundation. Call a tech at 818-523-8206 and let them explain the application and advantages of using their services and the best choices in available paints and protection for your home, office, investment property, commercial buildings or place of worship today. Don’t take their word for it, the United States Department of Energy tested products (see www.coolwall.com) and has determined that a building owner may save anywhere from 4-21% on energy costs. That’s not all. The reflective science causes ultraviolet and inferred light to stop at the surface and not be absorbed, keeping the surface cooler and allowing the coating film to last up to three times longer than ordinary paint. The insulative coatings last longer because they keep the surface cooled. Remember, heat is one of the most damaging elements in our environment. If you insulate against heat transfer you can cool the interior and keep the paint coating film longer (see www.nansulate.com).
There are a couple of plastic sciences being measured in today’s thermal paint and coating products. I mentioned reflective and that is rather self explanatory. If you reflect away the damaging sun rays, it makes sense that you will be saving the paint and substrate underneath the paint coating. But I wanted to explain further the science behind insulative coatings.
These are thermal plastic hybrid coatings that act like the low-e film coating on energy efficient windows. This crystal clear plastic film is applied to the glass to block the temperature variant between outside your building and the conditioned space inside. Imagine that we laid out in the sun a piece of glass, a piece of metal and a piece of plastic (clear or any color). Which of the three considered substrate materials would you expect to heat up or absorb the cold temperature most? Scientists have measured the differences and by far the metal is most conductive and the plastic is least emissive in temperature conductivity. So if we use plastic sciences available in thermal coatings from crystal clear, white or any color in the rainbow we find a significantly measurable advantage to using these coatings to protect and control our building environments on the exterior surface and the benefit transfers to the inside of the unit.
This becomes a no-brainer in choosing how to coat and protect surfaces where historically we just re-paint for aesthetic and temporary protection reasons. Don’t misunderstand; we have become convinced over the last few years that low-e windows protect our homes’ interior. But when you think about the actual square footage on just your window surface being coated in thermal plastic, think about how much larger the surface of your roof and walls are and put a thermal coating on them too. That’s a big measurement compared to just the window surfaces. Never again just put on a coat of paint, paint on a fresh thermal coat of savings instead.

Editor’s Note: David Barron is a Code Enforcement Inspector, works for the LAHCID, and writes for the NVR. Information was provided by Don Freed of Foothill Painting Company, Inc. whose company is experienced in the use of these products. Visit www.roofcoatingcontractor.com for further information.