Garland Pyramic Base Coat
Sept. 29, 2010 — This isn't the kind of coat that comes with two pairs of pants. This is the kind of coat that keeps you from panting too much. That's right: It's part of a cool-roof solution that deflects sunlight and helps keep your co-op or condo's average temperature down. Specifically, it's a newly formulated base coat — a primer — with a lot of green, environmentally friendly elements built-in. Think of it as taking your old tar beach and trading it in a pristine white beach. OK, maybe that's stretching a metaphor. But there are the money- and energy-savings practicalities here. Let us elucidate....
Setting aside this base-coat paint for a moment and speaking generally about white roofs, the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Heat Island Group has found that a "reflective topcoat," as the final layer of paint is called, can reduce energy use by about 20 percent in hot, sunny weather, and that even in winter the amount of heat savings you lose is at most just 30 percent of the summertime savings, according to the lab. Pyramic Base Coat — a water-based, pure acrylic, self-curing latex polymer — additionally offers reduced volatile organic compounds and no flammable fumes or toxicity, as opposed to solvent-based coatings.
Workers can apply it over built-up roofs, modified-bitumen systems and asphalt-emulsion-coated surfaces to improve the surface for reflective topcoats. Energy Star-approved, it's fire-retardant and, like other white-roof products, helps prolong roof life by reflecting the sun's drying ultraviolet rays and reducing their damaging effects. Additionally, the employee-owned Garland Company says Pyramic has a shorter application window than most such primers, in order to minimize disruption to your shareholders or unit-owners.
It's available in five-gallon pails and 55-gallon drums, with a shelf life of one year. And whether you choose this or some other type of white-roof primer, just remember that environmentally, it's the white thing to do!
The Garland Company, Inc. • 3800 East 91st Street, Cleveland, Ohio 44105 • (216) 641-7500 • toll-free (800) 321-9336 E-mail contact page here.
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