Insulating Coatings

A water based, acrylic, high-build membrane with a CTC 'cellutec' nano powder additive which significantly reduces heat transfer

Advantages over standard insulation materials:

• Hides masonry cracks
• Environment friendly
• Reduces energy costs
• Non-toxic and environmentally friendly
• Waterproofs and insulates at the same time
• Extremely flexible
• Non Flammable
• Impervious to salt spray and airborne pollution
• Protects metal roofs from extreme weather conditions
• Easy to apply

Why is a cool roof and walls important?

The heat flow into a building from the outside is mainly through the roof and, to a lesser extent, through the walls. The rate at which the heat flows into a building depends ultimately on 2 factors :

• the outside surface temperature of the building (not the air temperature) and
• the temperature inside the building.

The rate of heat flow is proportional to the difference between these two temperatures. The hotter the roof and walls, and the lower the internal temperature, the greater the inward heat flow.

What benefit does Solarcoat confer on a passive building?

If there is no ventilation or cooling in the building, the internal temperature will eventually become equal to the temperature of the exterior surface. However, as well as depending on the temperature difference, the flow of heat is also inversely proportional to the 'R-value' of the structure. Insulation, when fixed beneath the roof and within the walls, increases the time that it takes for the interior to reach the temperature of the exterior surfaces.

The lower external surface temperatures that result from the use of Solarcoat means that:

• the interior will never get as hot as it would if the structure was uncoated,
• as well as not getting as hot inside, the building will take longer to heat up, and
• the building will cool down more quickly at night as the outside temperature falls.

What benefit is there if the interior space is ventilated or cooled with an air conditioner?

The economic and environmental consequences of acheiving cooler external surface temperatures using Solarcoat are:

• the same cooling power will result in a cooler temperature inside the building, or
• a given inside room temperature can be maintained with less cooling power, hence
• coated buildings are cheaper to keep cool, and
• less electricity consumption means lower greenhouse gas emissions.

ow does Solarcoat work?

The easiest way to explain this is to say that Solarcoat works exactly opposite to the way the black coating now used as a selective surface on solar water heater panels (chrome black) works. Chrome black absorbs 95% of the sun's shorter wavelength radiant energy (at 5000°K ), and limits emissions to only 9% of the longer infrared wavelength energy from the collector surface (400°K). Hence, very little of the heat that is gained is then lost through emissivity.
Because of this selectivity, the chrome black surface may get up to 40°C hotter than the air temperature.

By contrast, the Solarcoat product absorbs only 15% of the sun's heat and is especially good at re-emitting most of this absorbed energy away from the treated surface (over 95%). The end result is that the exterior surface only gets about 5°C hotter than the ambient air temperature. This compares with an untreated exterior surface that gets 10°C - 20°C hotter than the ambient air temperature.

What maintenance is needed?

Properly specified and applied, Solarcoat treated surfaces do not require maintenance over their life for 10 years if applied on an inacessible roof.