See The Light – save on repair and energy costs

The recent stormy weather than has hit the UK serves as a powerful reminder of just what Mother Nature can throw at us.  Winter is most certainly not the time of year to have any part of your building in a state of disrepair as the elements will quickly find the weak points and potentially cost you a small fortune in much bigger remediation work from further damage.

Water ingress through a leaking roof is easily preventable but the damage it can cause is once inside the building is significant, as well as being a health and safety hazard.  Think also of the costly interruption to business operations this can cause too, with a severe water ingress incident having the potential to temporarily shut down production lines, retail premises and office space.

Rooflight vulnerability

One of the weak points is all too often GRP rooflights.  Whilst being a highly durable, fire resistant material with very good insulating properties, GRP rooflights can become dirty, fibrous, absorbent and fragile to the point where replacement is sometimes the only option.

That’s why it is crucial to have GRP rooflights regularly inspected, cleaned and potentially repaired, without which a building owner will not get the true lifespan they expect out of the product.

But as if the costs associated with water ingress aren’t enough, there is another very important reason why GRP rooflights should be kept in tip-top condition.

A clear route to saving money

When a rooflight is dirty and covered in moss or over-grown with fungus there is no way it is going to properly do its job of letting natural light into the building.  When new, a GRP rooflight will typically allow 70-80% light transmission but this will decline significantly if not maintained.

The effects?  Quite simply the build-up of dirt, moss and fungus will hit the building operator’s bottom line.  The lights will need to be switched on for longer periods to compensate for the lower level of natural light which means bigger electricity bills.  Not a good situation when you consider that energy prices on the whole have risen 37% in the last three years (source: ONS Oct 2010-2013).

And this need for increased electricity consumption also impacts on the sustainability credentials of any business operating in such a building.  Keeping rooflights clear will cut electricity consumption which in turn reduces the carbon footprint of the business operating in the building.

The solution is simple.  Avoid these costs by building rooflight maintenance into your building management process.  The rooflight refurbishment service that Cladding Coatings provides will bring rooflights back to their former glory, keeping the building watertight and maximising natural daylight for a healthier, happier and more eco-friendly working environment.

Read more about our cladding refurbishment service here.