On hot summer days, one typically leaves the dark color clothes in the back of the closet to try and keep cool during the summer. Dark colors absorb more light and can create a higher temperature. The same is true with the color of a house’s roof. For those who have low-pitched roofs, adding a reflective roof will keep your house cool and your electric bills down during the summer. How It Works Reflective roofs have a paint-like white coating that helps reflect some of the sun’s energy away from the house. This special coating is a mixture of cement particles and white pigments to produce a very reflective surface. While this practice has been done on low-pitched roofs for some time, there has not been a product designed for most high-pitched residential homes until recently. Now, home improvement stores offer reflective roof sealers to place over asphalt shingles as well as white asphalt singles if needed to replace an entire roof. KST Coatings makes elastomeric professional-grade white roof coating that helps reduce heat damage and electricity bills. But don’t go running to the store just yet. A barrel (and it will take multiple to cover a roof) of KST Coatings cost around $90. If your house is in the shade or has a well-insulated attic, the reflective roof coatings cannot do much more to keep you cool. Savings Adding a reflective coating to a roof could help save on electricity bills. According to www.solor-estimate.org, adding an elastomeric or ceramic reflective coating could reflect 80% of the light and reduce the temperature of a roof to 15 degrees Fahrenheit hotter than the air temperature. Black shingles are typically 90 degrees Fahrenheit hotter than the air temperature. Not only will a reflective roof coating keep you cool and save money on electricity, but it also will extend the life of the roof. Reflective coatings generally last around 10 years and will extend the roof’s life by protecting it from heat stress and other weather-related elements. If you are buying a new home that is a few years away from needing a new roof, a reflective sealant may put off that project for a few years. While reflective coatings for roofs are not practical for everyone, they can help reduce the amount of sun that hits your roof. As these reflective materials progress in development, more roofs will be white instead of black. Reflective coatings reduce the amount of sun damage on a roof and can help reduce electricity bills that pay for air condition. Most importantly, a solid reflective roof coating will keep your house cool all summer long. Category:Home › Other • Pomegranates: A newly discovered superfood • Where did the joke why did the chicken cross the road come from and why is it funny? • Can mothers diagnosed with bipolar disorder make good parents? • Spiritual evolution of human consciousness • Tips for getting a college basketball scholarship • Living with Pseudotumor cerebri (PTC) • Caring for the caregiver • Technologys impact on society
