New roof - Light or dark shingles

[rharkins]

We have a lot of vaulted ceilings, and the insulation that was installed wasn't that great. Our air conditioning bills were terrible, and you could feel the heat radiating from the ceilings in the summer. The portion of the house with an attic has a powered gable fan on a thermostat, and the fan ran from mid-morning to dark any time the outside temperature was over 70.

A hail storm got our roof, so the insurance company was picking up the tab for a new roof. They would pay for the normal 30 year architectural shingles. I did a bit of research and found the GAF-Elk Prestique 40 year shingles in Cool Colors. We put on the weathered wood color, which is very light, but still has some character in it. The roofers mentioned that the shingles were very heavy and tough, much more so than the 30 year. Unfortunately, these shingles were $1,500 more than the standard 30 year. In fact, they were more expensive than the standard 40 year shingles without 'Cool Colors'.

The results have been amazing. The attic fan hardly ran at all in August and September, and there is no feeling of heat radiating from the vaulted ceilings, even on the hottest days. I don't have a good comparison of electric bills yet, because this year was unusually cool.

We do have the lightest roof in the neighborhood, but it doesn't seem out of place. These shingles have copper in them to discourage the growth of dark algae stains. I think the guarantee on that was 20 years. Algae stains are very common here in Missouri.

Plus, we get the $1,500 back on taxes. Watch out, though. You only get 30% of the materials as a tax credit; not including installation.

[brandoro]

Even up where I live I would not have black shingles because they cook themselves fairly quickly. The shingles are covered with snow all winter but we do get very long sunny days in the summer so sun burn is an issue.
Having said that, my house and shop have medium brown shingles, called drifted cedar, because that suits the rest of the house. When I reshingled a few years ago I added attic ventilation, that helped quite a bit to reduce attic temperatures and heat soak into the house. Good ventilation is important no matter what type/colour roofing you choose.

[JB4310]

Another consideration is if you have alot of trees overhanging the house, a light roof will get dark stains. had to pressure wash my back shop roof twice now in the last few years.

It is pretty well accepted that darker roofs will lead to higher attic temps/higher cooling bills. I've never noticed darker roofs wearing out any sooner than light ones though.

Here in New England most of our commercial roofs are still black, EPDM rubber, modified bitumen and built up hot asphalt. From what I see in the trade mags, down south the commercial roofs are mostly white now TPO, PVC and vinyl. as the energy consumption factor is of greater significance.

JB.

[woodlandfarms]

I would love to read those articles you have seen Eddie, Everything I read indicates that light shingles are a plus, that they do indeed reflect radiant heat. Problem is that they do retain heat as they are asphault. The latest stuff I am seeing suggests having an airspace between reflective shingles and then adding another radiant barrier (Basically a high end aluminum foil with bubble wrap in between the sheets of foil). This would be applied under your rafters if possible.

In the man made global warming circles, there is a push to require light reflective roofing material to aid in reflecting the sun to curb global warming.

We have a 50's atomic house in LA, vaulted ceilings, no attic, R1 insulation if we are lucky. We are due for a new roof, and have been looking at Metal, Shingles but we might go with this EPDM (Rubber) roof. Anyone have it on their business or home?

[EddieWalker]

I was thinking about this today and got to wondering if you can reflect heat with a shingle? Light colors reflect light, smooth surfaces reflect light, but heat is a different thing altogether. From what I've read, all the so called reflective materials that are put on decking, sheething and underlayments just get as hot as everything else around them.

If I put a black shingle on the ground and a white shingle on the ground, would one be cooler then the other? I realize that I'm in disagrement with some of you here, but I don't think it matters what color you make a shingle, it's going to get just as hot regardless.

Eddie

[MikeD74T]

Lighter shingles will definitely be cooler than dark ones. Did you ever see a white solar panel ???
One thing to consider about architectual shingles. The 25 year architectuals are no better than 25 year standard single layer. One disadvantage of architectuals is you cannot double layer. How old will you be in 25 years? Do you want to be able to shingle over the existing layer next time around or pay someone to strip the roof? I know it's better not to double but it's still anaccepted practice. MikeD74T

[rtdiggr]

Get Fiberglass shingles over organic [cheap]

Ice and water shield THE WHOLE ROOF. this is cheap insurance. In most cases ice and water shield will give you a full warranty on your roof ie 40 years.

Have you every read the packaging on shingles? it is kinda a joke.

If you have a shingle if you just put it on the roof without ice and water shield you will get about half or alittle more than what the warranty states.

Shane

[BobRip]

Put your hand on a dark car sitting in the sun and then on a light colored car with the same exposure. There is a huge difference. I will not buy a dark car. I figure it ages the plastic, electronics, paint, etc. much faster. The roof is the same.

[Carykong]

lots of sun--go light shingles lots of shade--go dark shingles

[JB4310]

Originally Posted by woodlandfarms

We have a 50's atomic house in LA, vaulted ceilings, no attic, R1 insulation if we are lucky. We are due for a new roof, and have been looking at Metal, Shingles but we might go with this EPDM (Rubber) roof. Anyone have it on their business or home?

I've put a couple of rubber roofs on. It's the industry standard on commercial low slope roofs around here. It's incredible stuff but not really applicable to pitched residential roofs.

Metal roofing has come a long way in the last few years, alot of styles and colors to choose from, if your looking for something other than asphalt shingles.


JB.