The Added Value of Gypsum Cover Board
The Added Value of Gypsum Cover Board
Most designers and contractors know why including a cover board is smart … but it’s not always easy to convince other stakeholders. That’s because there is often a tendency to value engineer cover board out of a roofing spec. The reality is that using a cover board for its intended purpose only adds value to a structure, as it protects the insulation and increases the roof’s resiliency. Plus, using the right cover board can help building owners and contractors save time and money.
Today, we expect our commercial roofing systems to do more than ever before. Modern, resilient roofs should be tough enough to handle all kinds of stress, from extreme weather to increased fire risk from solar panel installations. Including gypsum cover board in your low-slope roofing systems can help maximize the life of your roofs. Here’s some proof to get everyone on board:
Protective Benefits
Fiberglass mat gypsum cover boards, like DensDeck® Roof Boards, can offer several protective benefits to the roof system, including fire, wind uplift and puncture resistance. This increased durability can help your roof last as long as possible. It’s a double win, you boost your reputation for building solid, resilient roofs and building owners can save on avoidable repairs, or even a full reroof.
DensDeck® Roof Boards also have substantial compressive strength (ranging from 900 to 1800 PSI) to help protect your rooftop from the impact of things like repeated foot traffic, dropped tools, flying debris and hail. The high density of gypsum cover boards can also reduce sound transmission to the inside of a building. Plus, their fiberglass mat facers and treated core help reduce damage from mold and moisture. Find out more about how gypsum cover boards rank next to other specified roofing materials, like asphaltic boards and high-density polyiso, in this article.
The Real Risks to Your Roof
A real-world example of missing out on the potential benefits of roof cover boards is the Colorado Mills Mall hailstorm disaster from 2017. The mall, built in Lakewood, Colorado, in 2002, is a 1.1-million-square-foot structure located west of downtown Denver. For a variety of reasons—cost considerations being the most prominent—the roof was installed without a cover board. In 2017, Denver experienced a catastrophic hail event when 2-to-3-inch hail impacted the mall’s roof for about 15 minutes. The resulting damage caused 3 to 4 inches of water to flood into the Colorado Mills Mall, shutting it down for six months1. While we can’t say for sure if using a cover board would have prevented this failure, having that increased protection could have helped the roof stand a chance.
Non-Combustible vs. Fire Resistant
Green roofs and solar installations are also becoming popular and can add both stress and potential risks to a roof system. Solar installations come with an added fire risk due to the electricity they produce. Although a roof system may have a Class A fire rating, it doesn’t mean the materials used are non-combustible. Using a cover board that is non-combustible per ASTM E136, like DensDeck® Roof Boards, can help starve a fire instead of fuel it.
“Whether it be a school, a hospital, a data center … anything with valuable contents and people—using a DensDeck® [Roof] Board is advantageous to that building owner.”
– Ben Williams, Regional Building Envelope Manager, Georgia-Pacific Building Products
An Investment in Your Roof’s Life Expectancy
If you want more data, consider the often-overlooked financial return of including a cover board in your roof specification. An FMI study from 2020 found that using a cover board on a single-membrane roof increased its median life expectancy by four years. It also reduced the operations and maintenance costs by an average of $1.40 per square foot over a 20-year lifespan. The study showed that the percentage of roof assemblies that met their full life expectancy with a cover board was 86%, compared to only 52% of the same type of roofs without a cover board2.
In the event of roof damage, the downtime and closure of business during repairs and replacement can be very costly for business owners and employees. It’s unreasonable to say with certainty that using a cover board will protect a roof during every major storm. However, it can give your roofing system a better outlook for meeting its full lifespan.
Avoid Jobsite Repairs
Choosing gypsum cover board is not just a value add for building owners, but also has advantages for contractors. Doubling back to repair damage on a recently completed job can be expensive for contracting companies. Gypsum board can help avoid puncture damage when future installers start going up on the roof. For the contractor, this means you can avoid mobilizing a crew and stretching your resources—revisiting sites that shouldn’t need to be touched after install. And your workforce can focus on net-new jobs instead of time-consuming repair work.
Get More from Georgia-Pacific
One advantage of working with DensDeck® Roof Boards is having access to Georgia-Pacific’s Building Envelope Managers (BEMs) and Technical Support team. They can help with many construction challenges, from availability to technical questions. Industry professionals have trusted Georgia-Pacific for more than 35 years because going above and beyond for our customers is standard practice. Our team can provide you with the information you need to have an educational conversation with building owners about the return on investment of gypsum cover board.
“Nobody wants to be associated with a roof that really fails before it’s supposed to. They do want to be associated with sound designs, good building practices and quality building products. And we can also provide them with the data to have that economic discussion, get it out of the transactional bid nature and really educate.”
– Greg Hudson, Director of Commercial Dens® Sales, Georgia-Pacific Building Products
You can also check out the resources available on our website like technical bulletins, white papers, submittals, warranty and testing information, 3-part specs, plus Health and Environmental Product Declarations. We pride ourselves on listening to our customers, and a direct result of that is the newest way our team can support contractors in the field: our Virtual Remote Assistant. This tool allows us to talk to you and view your building challenges in real time through your smartphone.
From product benefits to cost savings, we’re always ready to talk about how we can help you succeed. For more information on the added value and return on investment of DensDeck® Roof Boards, watch this video.
[2] FMI Roof Cover Board Survey completed in May 2020. Actual results may vary.