Tips To Cool Your Metal Roof

While your metal roof can hold up well to wind uplift or shed ice and snow more easily, it attracts heat from the sun, which can considerably increase the temperature of your interior. Similarly, it can conduct cold air during winter or retain the cold air inside your house when it is cold. For this reason, your air conditioning will have to work harder to balance these temperature differences, meaning your energy bills can increase relatively. Cooling your metal roof is an excellent way to keep the temperature in your home at a reasonable and relatively balanced level. Therefore, here are a few tips to cool your metal roof.

Elastomeric Paints

When applied to your metal roof, elastomeric paint will expand and contract along with the roof. This paint works by increasing the solar reflectivity of your metal roof. Solar reflectivity is the ability of your metal roof to reflect heat (from the sun) from its surface. Therefore, use of elastomeric paints, which act as a cool roof coating, enables your metal roof to reflect as much heat as possible.

Spray Foam and Cellulose Insulation

Spray foam insulation is an excellent way to cool or insulate your metal roof. Spray the foam evenly on your roof or your ceiling as well. Spray foam has a high level of rigidity and will maintain its form on your roof once it dries. On the other hand, cellulose insulation is cheaper and easy to install since it is made from recycled materials. Small particles of recycled material, such as newspaper, are blown into the spacing between your ceiling and the roof. Insulating your metal roof will reduce the cooling load in your home.

Single Ply PVC or Vinyl Sheathing

This method of roof cooling involves the installation of a PVC or vinyl sheathing to your roof. The sheathing, which is usually single-ply, comes with heat-welded seams that keep out moisture or water. In addition, the PVC sheathing has a cool texture that enables your roof to withstand wind action, preventing damages by strong winds. Since the single-ply panels or membranes have cool roof properties, additional surfacing or coating will not be necessary.

Modified Bitumen Roof

This type of roofing is made up of rubber or plastic asphalt sheets that are fastened to your roof deck with cool adhesives. Most conventional bitumen roofs are grey or black. In addition, they have a low solar reflectivity and therefore won't reflect much of the solar heat. However, modified bitumen roofing contains a white coating that helps increase their solar reflectance capacity.