The roofer told us to start thinking about color for the roof. I honestly never in a million years thought of this nor have I really taken note of anyone's roof color.
We live in a 1920's colonial, original clapboards painted pale yellow with gray shutters and a red door.
The lighter you can go, the better for the environment and the better for your energy efficiency. Check out whiteroofproject.org
You obviously don't need to go white, but a dark, black or grey roof is going to contribute to heat islands. It's definitely an urban problem, but suburban or rural areas are still impacted by it as well.
When I lived in my 1940's bungalow the color of the roof made a HUGE difference in the temperature upstairs. Although I prefer the look of a black or charcoal gray roof, I would recommend the lighter gray.
We picked the lighter gray for our new build. I'm happy with it.
Post by bullygirl979 on Mar 28, 2017 11:51:42 GMT -5
Ramz-ee, what area of the country do you live in? I'm laughing as I recommended black or dark gray, not realizing it doesn't make as big of a difference given how cloudy our weather is.
Ramz-ee , what area of the country do you live in? I'm laughing as I recommended black or dark gray, not realizing it doesn't make as big of a difference given how cloudy our weather is.
The midwest, second to like only Seattle with the most cloudy days. Lol. But on the days we actually DO get sun, it matters.
I agree with the above -- the lightest color you can get is the most eco-friendly. Which leads me to letting you know that there are companies making metal roofs that aren't just the old school standing seam type. It was a welcome surprise to us. You can get them made to look like tile, shake, and others. They tend to be more $$$, but we put one on last summer and don't regret it at all for multiple reasons. First, it's an EnergyStar roof even though it's Charcoal Gray in color (we live in a HOA and were just happy to get the material approved) and we got a tax credit this year. Second, it's recyclable at the end of its life. Third, it's got a 50 year warranty on it, so should last a long time and not rust because it's aluminum (we live in the PNW, so that's a concern). Fourth, silverfish don't like to live in it (unlike our previous cedar shake roof). Fifth, it really wasn't that much more expensive than an asphalt roof which is not nearly as crunchy because we would have had to put down plywood and then a new asphalt roof. Our old roof was on skips, and the metal shake was able to be installed on that as well. It's also surprisingly quiet when it rains -- not really any louder than our previous roof. And we haven't noticed any issues with our TV antenna or WiFi (concerns others on the interwebs mentioned). Oh! And some states will give you a homeowners insurance discount because it's less likely to burn.
Go with the lightest color you like. I would recommend driving around and looking at roofs for a few days before deciding!
this is what we did - our house is red brick so we drove around looking at red brick houses and paying attention to roof colors, which neither of us had ever done before.
Post by downtoearth on Mar 29, 2017 15:25:45 GMT -5
Weren't red or green roofs more common on Colonial homes from the 1920's? That being said, I still think I'd go with lighter gray and then maybe a fun pattern like @juno noted.
Tesla's solar roofs will be available for order next month. They look like real roof tiles and cost only as much as normal roof tiles, but with lots of energy savings.
We replaced last year and after seeing the graphic above, we opted out of black or charcoal and went with a medium grey. It looks great, is more environmentally friendly, and we got a killer deal because the roofer had them leftover from a previous project where he'd bought in bulk.
We got the roof Pibs mentioned after a hail storm totaled our old shake shingle roof 8 years ago. stone coated steel has been replacing shake shingle roofs here in CO since insurance will rarely replace shake with shake and that style has been approved by HOAs as a replacement. If you can afford it and your area is prone to hail, it's a good investment, those of us in our neighborhood who have it didn't have to replace again 5-6 years ago like standard shingle roofs did with another bad hail storm. I think the warranty is legitimately 20-30 years A few caveats on them though: Certain flat slopes aren't compatible Walking/weight on them can be an issue, there is basically an air gap between the shingle and the roof (DH compares them to cookie sheets), so they will pop/flex when walking on them. I had a chimney sweep walk away from even doing the work as soon as he saw my roof. He was a big man. Adding solar, solar tubes, skylights after the fact is tricky to impossible, as most contractors can't/won't work with them and the original installer may need to get involved.
Post by mrs.jacinthe on Mar 31, 2017 11:00:16 GMT -5
We have Owens Corning Duration in Sierra Gray, which is not labelled as a "cool" roof (because they don't have the light reflecting granules), but it is light enough to qualify based on sheer light value alone. (OC does their "cool" roof shingles in darker colors so you can get a darker look without sacrificing the energy efficiency.)
We got the roof Pibs mentioned after a hail storm totaled our old shake shingle roof 8 years ago. stone coated steel has been replacing shake shingle roofs here in CO since insurance will rarely replace shake with shake and that style has been approved by HOAs as a replacement. If you can afford it and your area is prone to hail, it's a good investment, those of us in our neighborhood who have it didn't have to replace again 5-6 years ago like standard shingle roofs did with another bad hail storm. I think the warranty is legitimately 20-30 years A few caveats on them though: Certain flat slopes aren't compatible Walking/weight on them can be an issue, there is basically an air gap between the shingle and the roof (DH compares them to cookie sheets), so they will pop/flex when walking on them. I had a chimney sweep walk away from even doing the work as soon as he saw my roof. He was a big man. Adding solar, solar tubes, skylights after the fact is tricky to impossible, as most contractors can't/won't work with them and the original installer may need to get involved.
More caveats based on mrspez's post. Our is not stone coated steel, it's aluminum. The stone coating on the samples we saw was not in good shape and we were concerned about steel rusting and overall longevity, though it does add a more traditional look to the roof. Ours is walkable because they filled in the space between the skips for extra support -- still cheaper than redoing the whole thing with a plywood base. Any work they do will not void our roof's warranty and they regularly go back out and undo the roof for a new skylight or to install solar brackets for customers that want these after the fact. We had them come install hardware for the people doing our new gutters to lock in to for safety and they didn't charge us anything. I think for something like adding solar brackets they estimated about $300 depending on how much of the roof will be impacted.
Tesla's solar roofs will be available for order next month. They look like real roof tiles and cost only as much as normal roof tiles, but with lots of energy savings.
We're only 12 years into this roof (and only had a few flipped tiles after Matthew- we're in good shape)- but, if this roof does what they say it will do at a reasonable rate, we are ON it. They're gorgeous- so much prettier than panels. I hope they're reasonably hurricane proof.