Atlas Roofing ACFoam-IV Insulation Panels
Sept. 25, 2009 — Get wind of this: a new type of roofing insulation that offers the kind of heavy-duty wind resistance that normally requires installing heavy, expensive cover boards all across a roof — thus saving the time and expense of having your contractor adjust the insulation's height and its (get ready; we're going techy for a second) Long-Term Thermal Resistance (LTTR) values to accommodate said boards.
Let's be honest: What did we really take away from that except "saving time and expense"? And, really, is there anything else we need to take away?
The Atlanta-based Atlas, which grew from a roof-shingle manufacturer in 1982 to become a conglomerate with offices and plants all over the U.S. and Canada, says its new ACFoam-IV roof insulation is capable of unprecedented wind-uplift ratings "for selected roof membranes adhered directly to polyiso." Better ask your building engineer what that qualifier means.
In any event, the new foam panels boast third-party certification results — what the industry calls FM Approvals by the commercial insurance company FM GLobal — that indicate that the product's resistance to breakage is high enough that cover boards aren't necessary even in corners and perimeter areas in order to meet FM Approval requirements for roofs in designated hurricane zones. Now that's a breath of fresh air! The ACFoam-IV has a maximum FM wind-uplift rating of 1-345, and that if you want to save money, you can use fewer fasteners and it'll still rate at 1-240, which still surpasses the specified corner requirement of 1-225.
A closed-cell polyiso foam core integrally laminated to dimensionally stable, inorganic, coated-glass facers, the product comes in a variety of thicknesses with LTTR values from 6 to 25, and in 4x4-foot or 4x8-foot panels. It's also a greener-than-usual roofing product, made with CFC-, HCFC-, and HFC-free foam-blowing technology with zero ozone depletion potential (ODP) and negligible global warming potential (GWP). So if the mythical Atlas held up the world, a real-life Atlas can help hold up your roof.
Atlas Roofing Corp. • 2000 River Edge Parkway, Suite 800 Atlanta, Ga. 30328 • (770) 952-1442 • toll-free (800) 388-6134 • E-mail contact form here