Achieving greater building performance with color selections

With more than 20,000 colors in our labs, the sky is the limit for color selection with Valspar. These include specialty colors and coatings that are designed to complement project goals by lowering heating or cooling costs, or keeping coatings pristine in coastal settings.

Lower Cooling Costs

In desert climates, cooling costs can comprise a large percentage of a building’s total operating costs. Solar reflective coatings help direct sunlight away from buildings, keeping air conditioning costs down. This is achieved by using coating pigments that reflect infrared radiation, causing the building and surrounding air to absorb less heat.

Lower Heating Costs

Conversely, many buildings in colder climates have high heating costs for much of the year. In such cases, using darker colors with low solar reflectivity can lower heating costs. This is because infrared light is absorbed instead of reflected, creating a warming effect.

Greater Coastal Durability

Atmospheric chloride and humidity levels create a challenging environment for coastal projects. These factors cause hydrolytic degradation and corrosion of the underlying substrate. Valspar’s inorganic pigments and diligent selection of the underlying primer are essential for durability. Our innovative thick-film primer application of 1 to 1.2 mils gives the Flurothane coating system excellent performance characteristics.