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Buna notes that the quartz- inish panels are part of a non-combustible rainscreen panel system and are fastened both adhesively and mechanically. Panels are shipped to the installer as four-by-eight-foot sheets; each panel is about 188 millimetres thick. Panels contain illers including ibreglass in the blend. "They weigh about 126 pounds per sheet, but depending on the inish used, it can change the weight by three or four pounds. Installers have told us that it's lighter than most concrete panels," he says. One suite of panels can hardly be said to have esthetics as its primary focus. Instead, a line of structural insulated panels from Structural Panel Industries Inc. is aimed squarely at the food industries. Panels have smooth metal walls for the interior face. "We used to be known as the food plant people," says company president Kyle Rogers. About 15 years ago, the company switched to ire-rated Roxall insulation, which is made from rock and steel slag. "This allowed us to become a full-service manufacturer for commercial and retail construction," says Rogers. Panels range in thickness from two to 10 inches. At the thin end, the panels are used in retro its. "They're excellent for older factory buildings with lots of nooks and crannies that are impossible to clean on the inside, so we retro it the inside with panels with a smooth, accessible surface," says Rogers. Versatility of installation methods for panel systems can boost demand for a product. Synstone International Ltd., a manufacturer of cementitious cladding panels, has introduced materials and various methods for construction of exterior wall systems and rainscreen solutions, says Sterling Halliday, Synstone's director of marketing. "The versatile Synstone concrete panel is made in Canada. It is the only material that be can be utilized to construct wall systems in four different methods," he says. These glass- ibre reinforced panels allow architects "to exercise creative art in structures by utilizing various face mix decorative aggregates, form liners, and/or various surface textures," says Halliday. Perhaps one of the more dramatic innovations involved a recent roof replacement project at Calgary's Talisman Centre for Sport and Wellness. The material for the new 160,000-squarefoot roof is called Tensotherm, and is a recently developed product from Birdair Inc. About ive years ago, Birdair, Cabot Corporation and Geiger Engineers combined PTFE ibreglass membrane, which Birdair irst used in 1973, with the insulating properties of Cabot's aerogel to develop the world's irst truly insulated fabric roo ing system. "The Tensotherm roo ing composRoofing/Cladding Materials p.10-17Roofing & Cladding.indd 17 ite consists of a Lumira aerogel layer, a cradle-to-cradle, Silver-certi ied insulating material by Cabot Corporation. Tensotherm is comprised of the Lumira aerogel sandwiched between two PTFE ibreglass membranes. The composite material is less than two inches thick yet delivers an insulation value of R 12," says Michele Roth, business development and marketing manager at Birdair. Sometimes, evidence that a product is as good as the claims made for it comes unexpectedly. Last year, Building Products (BP) of Canada Corp. upgraded its laminate shingles with its patented Weather-Tite technology. The company promised hurricaneresistant protection, and management didn't have to wait long for the new technology to be put to the supreme test. Four months after BP's April 2011 press release announcing the upgrade, a tornado tore through Goderich, Ontario, downing trees, power lines and tearing the roofs off houses – but not the ones recently shingled with Weather-Tite. Other houses, also recently shingled, but by the competition, didn't fare as well, according to post-tornado images from BP. "It has the highest wind-resistance warranty of any [such] product in North America. Sales are going extremely well," says Gilles Landry, product line manager at BP for roo ing materials. Sustainability, in the broader sense, is at the root of growth in demand for white or re lective roofs. "People think of EPDM as black rubber roo ing, but white EPDMs are becoming more prominent and represent the largest growth in EPDM-based roo ing systems. Larger performing roof systems are extending life from 15 to 30 years. This is very common now. There is a premium on more durable roofs," says Richard Ruppert, manager, architectural services at Firestone Building Products. Sustainability is also a focus for suppliers of PVC-based roo ing to the low-slope and commercial roo ing market. Sika Sarna il's roo ing membrane recycling program recycles Sarna il membranes as well as most old PVC roofs from other manufacturers, says Carl DeLeon, national sales manager at Sika Sarna il. The process is complex as it entails the separation of the fabric reinforcement backing from the vinyl. The company website says that vinyl is excellent for recycling as old roofing material is easily introduced into the raw material base for the manufacture of new roo ing membranes and accessories. The company recycles both preand post-consumer roof materials from vinyl roofs, rated with a life expectancy in excess of 35 years. The recycling program has resulted in a UL certi ication. "We're the only company with this certi ication for recycled content in a roo ing product," says DeLeon. ■ JUNE 2012 /17 5/25/12 11:40:40 AM

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