Guide
Cool roof coating, reflective white coating, anti-heat coating: three names for the same thing, a coating that reflects solar radiation instead of absorbing it. Used for more than twenty years in the United States, the cool roof coating stands out as the most cost-effective alternative to heavy insulation work — provided you choose the right technology and the right applicator.
A dark roof absorbs up to 90% of solar radiation, then releases that heat into the building. A cool roof coating reverses the mechanism through two combined properties.
Combining the two gives the SRI (Solar Reflectance Index), the ASTM 1980 standard indicator used as the industry reference. The higher it is, the better the coating performs. CovaTherm 20 reaches an SRI of 119 when new and 118 after accelerated aging, among the best-performing on the market.
Not all cool roof coatings are equal. The resin technology makes all the difference to the coating's real service life.
Over a building's operating life, the cheapest cool roof coating to buy is always the one that costs the most.
The price of a professional cool roof coating, installed, averages between €10 and €25 per square meter, all-inclusive: assessment, surface preparation, material, and application. The price gap comes mainly from the technology used.
Three additional factors move the final figure: the area to be treated (price tapers off above 2,000 m²), the condition of the substrate, and the geographic location of the project.
For comparison, a new waterproofing membrane costs between €80 and €100/m², and a full insulation + waterproofing replacement runs around €150/m². A cool roof coating therefore divides the budget by 3 to 7, with an average ROI of 14 months.{' '} Estimate the savings of a cool roof coating .
The performance of a cool roof coating depends directly on the quality of the application. A Covalba project unfolds in five controlled steps, carried out by certified applicators.
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Application is done in dry weather, between 10 and 35 °C. A typical 1,000 m² project is completed in 3 to 5 days, with no interruption to building operations. All applicators are PPE-certified and trained in safe roof work.
The durability of a cool roof coating is measured against three criteria:
A standard coating can lose up to 40% of its reflectivity in 5 years, which cancels out much of the initial thermal benefit.
CovaTherm 20, thanks to its exclusive anti-UV Top Coat, maintains an SRI of 118 after 4,000 hours of accelerated aging in a QUV chamber, equivalent to 20 years of solar exposure. The coating soils three times slower than standard solutions and does not chalk. It is among the best-performing for durability on this type of product.
The choice between a cool roof coating, a new membrane, and a full renovation depends on the building, the budget, and the current condition of the roof. Here are the criteria that matter, and why a cool roof coating stands out as an{' '} alternative to waterproofing replacement .
{/* Desktop table */}| Criterion | CovaTherm cool roof coating | New white membrane | Insulation + waterproofing replacement |
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| {r.label} | {r.covatherm} | {r.membrane} | {r.refonte} |
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A cool roof coating is the solution that pays back the fastest, with no dismantling and no interruption to operations. It stands out as the reference for industrial, pharmaceutical, food-processing, aeronautical, and commercial buildings more than 10 years old, where keeping cool is critical and a heavy renovation is hard to organize.