Give Your HVAC Unit a Break

How much money do you spend a year on your heating a cooling for your building? Commercial energy consumption has always been high but heating and cooling can be a bill you dread receiving. Much of the costs associated with these inflated numbers are due to air leaks in your building.

Many companies now are looking into air barrier systems for their building, which is also considered a "building envelope." The building's six sides are wrapped in layers comprised by a number of different materials which helps prevent air leakage and the diffusion of air caused by wind and other sources. It assists in keeping the warm air in during the colder months and the cool air in during the warmer months. It can also help with the prevention of mold and other pollutants that can be potentially harmful to people within the structure.

Application of the Walltite foam air barrier system at
the University of Missouri School, Columbia, Missouri.

Air barrier system envelope protects entire building.

The Department of Energy says that air leakage can increase energy costs by up to 40% in colder climates and 15% in cooling costs. A good air barrier system can reduce these costs. In fact, since mechanical engineers design the HVAC units in buildings around air leakage, many times they are able to use smaller units when a building has a good air barrier system in place.

So give your HVAC unit a break and look into air barrier systems for your next building design or renovation. It will help your pocketbook, as well.

Roof Management Plan: Testing Your Roof for Moisture

We work with many building owners and maintenance managers who find they suddenly need to repair their building's roof and lack the funding to get it done properly. One of our clients has been working on finalizing the proposed roofing project for nearly two years. It is safe to say that a Roof Management plan for your building is important to have in place, and even though it may not guarantee funding will always be available it will provide you with solid, up-to-date evidence to provide to the proper decision makers.

In our last post we skimmed over what is considered a beginning to a good roofing management plan. In this post we will talk more about roofing inspections and how detecting moisture is determined.

There are three types of non-destructive methods for testing moisture problems which have advanced over the years to give pretty reliable results: Impedance/Capacitance, Infrared and Nuclear. However, once moisture has been determined by one of three ways is it important to undergo a core test to verify the conditions. 

Impedance/Capacitance - can be done with a hand-held meter by setting it over the roof membrane. It will determine if a specific area in the roof is wet or dry through electronic signals. This testing cannot be completed over wet or ponded areas.

Infrared - Conducted with an infrared camera used after sunset to identify temperature differences on the roof. Areas that are dry will cool off quicker than areas that hold moisture.

Nuclear - A nuclear scanning meter can test in areas of ponding water and scan up to 7 inches in depth of the roof. In the article, "Technical Details: How to Properly Determine Moisture Content in Roof Systems" author John D'Annunzio says "Testing is conducted over the entire roof area by sectioning the roof into grids . . . and recording the readings at each of these locations."

Moisture Verification: Core Cut and Test - In this process you actually drill through the entire roof and extract a core sample. After the core area is properly repaired the sample is tested to provide data of all components found in your roof. Each roof system and repair method can be identified as well as the percentage of moisture detected. Results are them provided and a plan for repair or replacement can begin.

Sources:
Article in Roofing Contractor Magazine

A Roof Management Plan

Do you have a roofing management plan? It is sometimes the case that when many organization think about implementing a roofing management plan, their roofs actually need to be replaced and they are looking for immediate funding.

Most building owners or facility managers agree that regular roof inspections are important to "reduce ownership costs, reduce leak frequency and severity, extend roof life, and reduce management inefficiencies."

In order to begin your roof management plan, first start with a historical record of your building's roof. You will  need when it was installed, who installed it, what type of system, warranties, who the manufacturer was, leak and repair history.

Then you will need to actually need a roofing professional to perform a "condition assessment," both visual and non-destructive. If in-house employees are trained in roof inspections you can utilize them, as well. If you hire an outside contractor, make sure they familiar "with the design, installation, repair, and types of failure specific to the roof system being surveyed."

Your survey documentation should be complete with photos, checklists and condition report. This information will be of value for the roofing contractor you hire in the future when your roof needs repair or replaced.

We'll dive further into roof management plans on our next post.

Source: Roof Inspections: A Closer Look

Roofs Needing Repair Don't Worry About 2012 Trends

The Dodge Report forecasting 2012 construction trends says that this year will be similar to 2011 as both residential and commercial markets sporadically jump around the grid. As commercial roofing contractors who have watched the industry ebb and flow for over 35 years we understand that trends are important to watch but do not necessarily indicate the success of a company. One thing will remain the same with us: when your building's roof needs fix, you need a trust-worthy, experienced roofing professional to fix it. Simple as that.

Roofing renovation does not have to be a ghastly project to complete. There does not have to be the big tear-off expense and noise disruption. There does not  have to be the smell of tar and the headache of  employees stepping around debris trying to get in the door.

Washington Roofing has several solutions for roofing repair or new construction roofing projects. One is with fluid applied, elastomeric coating systems. These systems are sustainable, seamless and are engineered for toughness and durability.

The other roofing system Washington Roofing offers is the Spray Polyurethane Foam system, which is sprayed on foam insulation giving your building seamless, lightweight insulation with a high "R" value. This system can be used on both new roofs and roof repairs, and is perfect for unusual-shaped buildings.

Personal meetings and professional consultation is one of the most important benefits we can offer you during your research and budgeting process. It is our job to make sure you understand your options and are satisfied with the end result.

Up On the Roof Top

We have been "up on the roof top" now for over 35 years and have never been mistaken for Ol' St. Nick, albeit we would find it to be a complimentary identity mishap. The jolly man himself may have a bigger service area and a larger target audience but our mid-western clientele is pretty extensive with places in Texas, Oklahoma, Texas, Iowa and of course, Kansas.

We have met some fantastic people along the way, and they are all pretty satisfied with their polyurethane spray foam roof systems or their air barrier systems for their commercial buildings.  This last year has been quite a ride. We became Air Barrier Association of America (ABAA) accredited to install Air Barrier systems and, along with many others, are currently working with the Beta Theta Pi Fraternity House at the University of Missouri in Columbia, Missouri.

But aside from all of that, we want to wish everyone happy holidays and the best for the 2012 new year. We are looking forward to being "up on the roof top" for many more years to come.

Types of Roof Systems

There are five generic classifications of low slope membranes or systems, with most having three principle components: Weatherproofing Layers, Reinforcement and Surfacing.  

Built-Up Roof (BUR) Membranes
Commonly referred as "tar and gravel" roofs, BUR roofs are composed of alternating layers of bitumen and reinforcing fabrics to create a finished membrane. The number of plies in a cross section is the number of plies on a roof, i.e. a four ply room membrane construction is four plies. 

Metal Panel Roof Systems
There is only one category of metal roof systems used in low-slop applications: structural metal panel. These can be used because of their hydrostatic (water barrier) characteristics and are designed to resist the passage of water at laps and other joints with sealant or anti capillary methods. 

Polymer-Modified Bitumen Sheet Membranes
Polymer-modified bitumen or modified bitument (MB) are composed of reinforcing fabrics that serve as carriers for the hot polymer-modified bitumen as it is manufactured into a rool material. They are composed of multiple layers, much like BUR membranes, and are typically installed as a two-ply system and almost always are fully adhered. 

Single-Ply Membranes
These are factory-manufactured sheet membranes generally categorized as either thermopolastic or thermoset. Thermoplastic materials, such as polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and thermoplastic olefin (TPO) can be repeatedly softened when heated and hardened when cooled. Thermoset materials, such as ethylene propylene diene monomer (EPDM) solidify, or "set," irreversibly after heating. Single ply membranes are referred to by their chemical acronyms, like TPO or EPDM.  

Spray Polyurethane Foam-Based (SPF) Roof Systems

After photo of a hospital roof with the
Spray Polyurethane Foam System.

SPF-based roof systems are constructed by mixing and spraying a two-component liquid that forms the base of an adhered roof system. It can installed in various thicknesses to provide slope to drain or meet a specified thermal resistance (R-value). A protective surfacing is then applied to the foam to provide protection from the elements. The first component is rigid, closed cell, spray polyurethane foam insulation. The second component is the protective surfacing and is typically a spray applied elastomeric coating. This provides weatherproofing, protect the foam from UV exposure, provide protection from mechanical damage and assist with the fire-resistant characteristic of the roof system.

From the National Roofing Contractors Association website

Energy Wise Giving

It happened. The year 2011 rolled into December. If you braved through the Black Friday weekend and Cyber madness then you may have already finished your Christmas shopping. For those of us who didn't, and who still have items on the "list" for Santa, we may want to take a moment to adjust our thinking which may help save our planet.

According to the Consumer Electronics Association's (CEA) 18th Annual CE Holiday Purchase Patterns Study report, this year's holiday spending will increase with over one-third of purchases spent on electronics. It is good for the economy to see the increase in spending, and electronics have always been high on the list.

The propensity in human nature is to take the easy road, and let's admit it, cell phones, laptops, wireless printers, copiers, GPS units, garage openers and toys which interact with our children seem to make our lives easier. Bottom line, electronics are used to improve your efficiency in everyday living.

However, old and broken electronics end up in landfills and landfill usage is a monumental environmental concern. Perhaps if all of us over the next month would stop a moment before purchasing a new electronic device and ask ourselves a couple of questions, we may help decrease our own carbon footprint:

Can this be recycled and where? If it is a brand new and improved gadget or prototype, can we wait until the bugs have been worked out?  (Do we hear a 'Bah Humbug?)

According to the cleanair.org waste facts website, "304 million electronics were disposed of from US Households in 2005 and two-thirds of them still worked."  The website also mentioned that if we all recycled cell phones for one year, we would save enough energy to power 18,500 homes for a year.

There are many places in Kansas City that assist with recycling and some communities even have "drives" which are set up throughout the year.  On recyclespot.org you can find a list of service providers near you.

Source: Green Building Elements website : Cleanair.org