Roof Scientist – and Cericade – to the rescue

Rich Palzewic

Staff

June 2, 2025

NORTHEAST WISCONSIN – Roof Scientist has officially broken into the Wisconsin market with its first location.

Launched by New London-based entrepreneur Dan Lindstrom, Roof Scientist, he said, brings new technology to extend roof life spans across Northeast Wisconsin.

Lindstrom, who worked in law enforcement and EMS services for a dozen years, said he saw the potential in Roof Scientist’s flagship product, Cericade™ – a nano-ceramic coating that chemically bonds to asphalt shingles and can extend a roof’s lifespan by up to 30 years.

“This new operation is now serving the Green Bay-to-Oshkosh corridor,” he said. “I had a family friend in law enforcement once tell me to have a plan B, because you never know when your last day (in law enforcement) might be. His words of advice sank in with me – this is my solution.”

Backed by HomeFront Brands, Roof Scientist President Michael Wagner said the company is targeting additional growth in the region as part of its national expansion.

“Roof Scientist is a new brand from HomeFront Brands, which is a multi-brand franchiser with five brands in its portfolio,” he said. “The newest one (of those brands) is Roof Scientist. In June 2024, we acquired a company out of Milwaukee called Innovative Roof Solutions and rebranded it to Roof Scientist.”

The Northeast Wisconsin region location, Wagner said, joins the more than 400 territories around the country that Roof Scientist could potentially move into.

“Territories are mapped and protected by ZIP codes for franchisees,” he said. “Our goal is to bring in 10-20 new franchisees in 2025 and then have substantial growth beyond that.”

Wagner said Roof Scientist is designed for low overhead and mobility, operating without a storefront and delivering high-demand services to homeowners looking for cost-effective alternatives to roof replacement.

“What we expect from our new franchisees is a storage facility,” he said. “As franchisees grow their business, they’re ultimately going to need a place to store product, park vehicles and have tools.”

Wagner said when franchisees start their business, there are some basic requirements asked of them.

“Franchisees basically start with some vehicle requirements, a 16-foot trailer, soft-wash equipment and sprayer equipment,” he said. “Yes, there are some initial financial requirements, but this business is performed on sites of residential and commercial asphalt-shingle roofs.”

Though he only recently took the leap with the Roof Scientist franchise, Lindstrom said he has always had an entrepreneurial spirit.

“I started spraying for mosquitoes – playing around with that on a small scale and learning how to run a small business,” he said. “That got the itch going in me. I came across some other roof coatings in 2020 that I thought were going to be the future of roofing, so I jumped headfirst into it – doing that on the side, still working full-time in law enforcement.”

From there, Lindstrom said he gained more knowledge of the roofing industry.

“I started witnessing the problems people were having with their roofs, plus the decline of shingles in general,” he said. “I realized the coating we were using needed a lot more. That’s when we came across Cericade. Seeing it in action made me a believer.”

Not built like they used to be

Lindstrom said one of the main reasons roofs are failing sooner than they were decades ago is because shingles are not built to last like they once were.

“Manufacturers are cutting corners during the manufacturing process and are using a lot of fillers in the process instead of asphalt in the shingles,” he said. “That equates to a lot fewer years of life to that shingle. The roofing industry is being limited to the amount of oil available to them for use in shingles, so that drastically impacts the quality of the shingles.”

Lindstrom said what is essentially happening is roofs are drying out.

“The granules are delaminating from the shingle, which then opens the shingle up to oxidation to occur,” he said. “Roofs seem to be getting to about eight to 15 years now, and then they’re done.”

Wagner said that’s where Cericade and Roof Scientist come into play.

“When we apply Cericade to a roof, it’s a three-step process,” he said. “First, we make sure there are no leaks in the roof and it still has its integrity. Then we do a soft wash, which is important, because there is a lot of biological matter on the roof. The third step is the actual application of Cericade.”

Wagner said once Cericade is applied, you can see the difference.

“It doesn’t take a ton of time to dry, but it does take time to cure,” he said. “You can basically walk on a roof after a Cericade application in about 15 minutes.”

Wagner said the Cericade application is a more permanent solution compared to other products on the market.

“It’s not something you need to apply regularly,” he said. “Asphalt has been used in making shingles for a long time, but as previously mentioned, the quality of shingles has deteriorated over time.”

Lindstrom said it’s important to point out that Cericade is not a coating.

“When you think of a roof coating, it’s more like a paint that doesn’t permeate into the product – it’s more like a top coat,” he said. “There are two applications of Cericade to each roof – one horizontal and the other vertical. That covers the roof better, and it locks everything in. The Cericade resin permeates into the shingle, thus protecting it from the elements.”

Lindstrom said he knows there is enough Cericade on a roof by conducting a simple test after application.

“I’ll actually take a scraper and scrape the shingles,” he said. “If you don’t get any granules coming off, you know you have enough Cericade on the roof – everything is locked in.”

Lindstrom said Cericade has been tested against the rigorous performance standards set out by the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM).

“There have been three tests done thus far with Cericade – wind, hail and fire,” he said.

For more information on Roof Scientist, visit homefrontbrands.com.