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"When
I was but a mere twig of a lad in 1972, I left my parents’ comfortable
home in Kailua to explore the world on my own terms. I
quickly ran out of money in New Zealand. Fearing starvation,
I snagged a job as a painters apprentice with John Trigg & Assoc.
where an eccentric group of English craftsmen (and world class
beer drinkers) took me under their wings and taught me the secrets
of the painting trade.
Eventually, I earned my Journeyman classification. Later,
I returned to Hawaii where I qualified for my Painting license in 1979, and my
Waterproofing license a year later.
Today, LeakMaster installs all types of coatings—from
basic interior/exterior house painting to high performance waterproof coatings
on roofs, walls, and parking decks. We even perform artistic finishes such
as “faux” painting, decorative murals, and the like.
Here are a few secrets of the trade that were taught
to me by others, and by my own hard experience. They are, however, just
my opinions. Comments? Please call me anytime at (808) 254-3648 "
Frank Rogers
President of Leakmaster Roofing and Waterproofing
| Acrylic
(Water Based) Roof Coatings |
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Butyl
Based Roof Coatings |
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EXAMPLE:
Hawaiian SunGuard
United Coatings Roofmate
PROS
- Water
based coatings seem to last as long, if not longer,
than other solvent based coatings as long as they are
not subjected to heavy ponding conditions. Their
UV resistance in Hawaii
is good.
- They
are the least expensive coating, and the easiest to
apply.
- They
have no noticeable smell during application, which
is important if your roof has an AC unit which draws
in fresh air from a roof vent.
- Their
bright white color doesn’t usually yellow over time,
like the Butyl coatings sometimes do, saving you money
on AC bills.
- The
coating is “breathable” which allows some trapped water
in the old roof to evaporate over time without bubbling.
- Some
coating manufactures will give a 10 year warranty if
installed by a factory approved installer, and a warranty
fee is paid. If interested, ask about this before
the contract is signed, because extra work may be needed
in order to bring your roof into compliance.
CONS
- In ponding areas
you need to use a special polyester fabric to keep
it from bubbling up.
- More
than any other type of roofing system, all coatings
need to be put down thick enough to last over time.
- Over
suspect areas, it is wise to use the recommended primer
for adhesion.
- If
you are looking for a flat roof to last
more than 10 years without much maintanence,
we recommend that, instead of any coating, you install
a torch applied roof system such as Johns Mansville Apex
4.5 or U.S.
Intec’s Brai GB-SP4.
Leakmasters'
Bottom Line: We use these water based coatings
more than any other, due to their price/benefit
ratio. But applied incorrectly, or on the
wrong surface, they can bubble up.
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EXAMPLE:
Aldo Butyl Roof Coating
PROS
-
Holds
up well in ponding water
situations.
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Mid
priced: more expensive than Acrylics but cheaper
than Urethanes.
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Good
adhesion. This stuff is sticky.
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Fairly
easy to apply, it doesn’t have a separate base and
top coat, like urethanes do.
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Can
be tinted to light and medium density colors.
CONS
-
Because
it is a fairly new coating to Hawaii, out policy is
to watch our older coating to see how they stand up
over time under our intense UV. So far it has
performed well, but a few more years are needed to
determine how long it will ultimately hold up.
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The
white coating tends to yellow pretty quickly, so
if your roof is highly visible you might want to
tint it to a sand color to minimize this visual effect.
Leakmasters’
Bottom Line: We
use if on ponding areas predominately,
where it has shown good resistance against de-lamination.
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| Urethane
Deck Coatings |
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EXAMPLE:
Neogard Urethane
Coating
PROS
- Great
resistance to ponding water
whether on a roof or a walking deck.
- A
long, successful history in the islands as a premium
waterproof coating.
- Can
stand up to heavy traffic, so much so that in some
formulations it is used as a traffic coating on shopping
mall parking lots.
CONS
- It
has a strong smell, so precautions must be made when
working near AC intake dusts, or other sensitive areas.
- It is a vapor
barrier, which means that the surface underneath your
coating must be very dry or it can get some small bubbles
in it when the sun hits it. These can, however,
can be cut out and fixed fairly easily.
- It cost more than
other types of coating.
Leakmasters’
Bottom Line: It is the Cadillac of
coatings, but is a bit of overkill for properly sloped
roofs where we prefer the water based coatings. It
is, however, the only thing you want to use on traffic
or walking decks, where it holds up well to abrasion. |
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1. In waterproof coatings,
size doesn’t matter—but thickness does!
Ordinary
house paint is put on at a thickness of 1-2 mils—about the same
as a sheet of typing paper. This is fine for your
basic home paint job if you aren’t expecting the coating to keep
the rain from seeping into your house. However, if you do
have water penetration you need a thick, waterproof, elastomeric
coating applied to your walls or decks. Generally, this coating
should be applied at about 15 to 45 mils thick, depending on the
surface. Anything less and the coating may crack and
leak as the building joints expand and contract in the sun.
2. Identify the “weak knee”
areas, and then reinforce them with a polyester fabric during
the coating process.
 For
instance, on this deck overlooking the golf course we knew that
the edges of the plywood surface would have a tendency to wobble
when people walk on it. We embedded our polyester fabric
over all the joints as we applied our deck coating. We did
the same along the edge metal and where the railings attach to
the deck. This allows the coating to stretch back and forth
with out splitting. Result? The expensive living space
below has kept dry.
3. Hollow block walls
can soak up water like a sponge. Clear, thin coatings (like
Thompson’s Water Seal) usually don’t keep all the water out.
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Why? Because they aren’t thick or flexible enough to bridge
the cracks in the mortar. Even tiny cracks can suck in a
lot of moisture due to capillary action. The solution is
a thick Acrylic waterproof coating like the one shown here. You
can see our guys are working an Aquathon coating into the cement
block wall with their rollers, after we first primed the walls
with a cement block filler. We also caulked all the window
frames, as well as the wall joints, with a urethane sealant before
coating. It has worked very well through out the years.
4. Bright white coatings,
especially those with ceramic granules inside, can dramatically
reduce the surface temperature of your roof and walls while lowering
your electricity bills.
 The
Engineering Dept. at UNLV built two identical “clone” buildings
and painted both of them brilliant white. The only difference
between the two was that one of the white coatings had ceramic
granules mixed in. After one year of metering the kilowatt
usage, the building using the ceramic coating used 50.2 % less
electricity than the one with regular paint. Imagine what
the difference would be on a dark colored building. While,
I don’t believe our results in Hawaii will be as dramatic here
as they are in the Las Vegas desert, your energy costs will go
down.
In fact the evidence is so persuasive that California has recently
passed into law the “Cool Roofs Program.” They are reimbursing
building owners a portion of the cost of recoating their roofs
with approved reflective coating in hopes of reducing their rolling
blackouts. While we normally don’t approve of government subsidies
to business, when it comes to our own industry, hey, what the heck,
sounds good to us! How about it Linda?
If you can’t wait for the government to solve your painting and
waterproofing needs, please give us a call now at (808) 254-3648 for
a free estimate.
Coating samples
 
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