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color/installation

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Guest User
4/5/2006
We are preparing to replace our asphalt shingle roof with metal. We live in an area that is quite hot in the summer but we also have several months of cold weather in the winter. We want a roof that will maximize our heat/cooling savings. We are perfectly willing to go with a white or near white roof, but after looking at the DOE's cool roof calculator we found that we might actually suffer a "heating penalty" in the winter by using a lighter color. Could you provide any input for the roofing color for our area? Also, what direction should the installation begin? We have read that it should be against prevailing winds. We have a simple gabled roof and will be using high ribbed metal. Any other recommendations would be appreciated. Thanks!
Todd Miller
Isaiah Industries, Inc.
4/5/2006
In recent studies done at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, this idea of a heating penalty was pretty well dismissed, especially if you have "normal" construction with an attic space, etc. In a cathedral ceiling situation, there may be some minute degree of validity to that idea but definitely not in typical construction. I would look for a roof that uses a paint system with reflective pigment paint. You can choose even very dark colors with those coatings and still get good reflectivity. If verticaal joints or laps do not have their "open" side facing the wind, there is probably some value to that. If you would like to understand metal roofing better, I have an article I can send you ... just email me at [email protected] and I will send it to you via return email.
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