Why silicone.
NANOROOF is built on a chemistry trusted for decades on commercial roofs, solar panels and power lines. Here’s why it works, what kept it off homes, and what we changed to bring it to asphalt shingles.
Eighty years of silicone
A material that started as a lab curiosity became one of the most trusted in building and industry.
- 1904Named
English chemist Frederic Stanley Kipping coins the term “silicone” while studying silicon compounds.
- 1930sDeveloped
J. Franklin Hyde at Corning Glass Works sees industrial uses in Kipping’s “sticky messes” and begins making them.
- 1940Scaled
Eugene Rochow at General Electric invents the direct process, still the basis of how silicones are made.
- 1943Commercialized
Corning and Dow Chemical form Dow Corning, and the commercial silicone industry begins.
- SinceTrusted outdoors
Silicone becomes a standard for restoring commercial roofs and protecting solar panels and power-line insulators from weather.
- NowOn shingles
NANOROOF brings silicone to residential asphalt shingle roofs.
What silicone does on a roof
What kept silicone off homes
Silicone earned its reputation on flat commercial roofs. Three things kept it there.
Cured silicone resists almost everything, including new coatings. Roofing makers say plainly that little sticks to silicone except silicone, and recoats often need adhesion tests and primers.
Commercial silicones are made to form a thick film over low-slope roofs, not to penetrate and bond inside a granulated asphalt shingle on a steep roof.
Silicone, rebuilt for shingles
The NANOROOF SPS System keeps what makes silicone last and removes what kept it off homes.
Formulated to bond to itself, so a roof can be re-treated at the next maintenance cycle without stripping the first coat.
Penetrates and bonds inside the asphalt, then encapsulates the granules, instead of sitting on top as a surface film.
Leaves a bonded layer that can be checked at every visit and recorded in the Roof Record.
| Attribute | Traditional silicone roof coating | NANOROOF SPS System |
|---|---|---|
| Carrier | Often solvent; some high-solids | Water |
| Recoating | Adhesion testing and primers often needed | Formulated to bond to itself |
| Built for | Low-slope commercial roofs | Steep-slope asphalt shingles |
| How it protects | A thick film on the surface | Bonds inside the shingle and encapsulates it |
| Applied by | Commercial roofing crews | Independent NANOROOF Certified Dealers |