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TOPIC: Painting/Coating metal roofs

Black Kynar Paint

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I have samples of aluminum roof shingles from a company in Utah. The shingles are supposed to be black, but when we first looked at them, they look as brown as a hydrogen peroxide bottle. See attached photo. The company told us this is a Valspar product code 438R581 Matte Black L/G (8-15 gloss) COOL formula. It only looks dark in low light. In flouresent lighting in our garage it looks brown. We put these shingles on our 6/12 pitch roof, on a bright sunny day, and it does not look as black as our black asphalt shingles. Valspar told us they have over 100 different colors of black. Do you know of a Kynar 500 paint color that will always look black, or a deeper color of black? We want it to look black always.
Guest User

7/1/2008
Hmmmm ... this has been an issue with early formulations of black in "cool" colors. My company (www.classicroof.com) offers black but it is not reflective pigment so it is indeed very black. Todd Miller
Todd Miller
Isaiah Industries, Inc.

7/4/2008
We had the shingles sent to Valspar in Texas for analysis. Valspar told us they do not label their colors such as "Matte Black." The people as the mills that apply the paint, or the end seller of the product come up with a color and market the name as "Matte Black", not Valspar. Valspar only refers to it colors by the product code. Valspare has over 100 colors of Black, and each has its own product code. Also, you can not get a true Black color that is Solar Reflective. They must add pigments to the paint to get the solar refelectivity, and under certain sunlight it will look brown, there is no way around this fact. The only way to get a true Black in all light conditions is to NOT have any Solar Reflective pignments in the paint.
Guest User

10/7/2008
You have done your research. I will add one thing ... I like reflective pigment but you can also achieve significant energy efficiency by choosing a product that has an airspace between the metal and the roof deck. My company's metal shingles, which I mentioned are available in black, do have this airgap. Todd Miller
Todd Miller
Isaiah Industries, Inc.

10/10/2008
With an aluminum roof the need of reflective paint is lessened greatly. You can have your black roof and still have the energy savings. Long before there was reflective paint, aluminum roofing was sold as energy efficient because aluminum reflects radiant heat. The savings with the radiant coatings over aluminum is nominal.
Guest User

1/27/2009
Aluminum by itself reflects approximately 97% of the radiant heat transmitted to earth by the sun, the paint is there to look good. Also, they make aluminum shingles with no paint at all, and they still have a 50 year warranty. The solar reflective paint helps reflect the radiant heat, and would be more beneficial on steel roofing, or in areas that recieve lots of sun year round like South Florida, Arizona, and use Air Conditioning most of the year. In our case, Detroit, MI. does not receive as many full sun days compared to other parts of the country, and the air conditoning is used for only half the year. The solar reflective paint was not as important as having the right color, and the projected saving on air conditioning cost per year was minimal in our climate. The one bad thing about not having the solar relective paint, is there is no federal tax credit, for NON-solar reflective paint roofing, despite the aluminum shingles being a 97% radiant heat barrier. The law needs to change on that one.
Guest User

3/24/2009
Thank you. Todd Miller
Todd Miller
Isaiah Industries, Inc.

3/29/2009
but Aluminium becomes less shiny and less reflective quite quickly?
Guest User

4/22/2009
why would you paint your roof black? To show you have a good air conditioner?
Guest User

4/22/2009
These posts have been referencing painted product. Mill finish aluminum roofing is rarely used today, partly because it would require a very pure virgin alloy which would be quite costly and have great embodied energy. Todd Miller
Todd Miller
Isaiah Industries, Inc.

4/25/2009