White Seal Roof Coating to Lower Attic Temperatures
 

I decided to try some white roof coating to lower my attic temps and therefore hopefully lower my AC power consumption. My shingles are a very dark (not black, but close) asphalt type. I bought White Seal from Home Depot as the coating material. It's Energy Star rated and warranteed for 10 years. I bought it in the 5-gallon containers @ $64 each as that was much cheaper than by the gallon.

I didn't take attic temps before I started, but later I found my infrared thermometer and took some temps on the roof and at the attic vent.

The temp on the roof itself at 12:00 with full sun yesterday was 104F on the coating and 155F on the bare shingles.

Ambient was 88F and the attic outlet temp was 90F. My latitude is 36 degrees N.

The air conditioner seems to run less than before. Next year I'll be able to report on the difference in kWh used.

Wow, if the attic is only blowing out 90F air and the white shingles are only 104F that is AMAZING vs the 155F shingles.

How far does 5 gallons get you sq/ft wise?

I would say about 30 sq ft/gallon, or 150 sq ft/5 gallon bucket. I might have put it on too thick, though. I hope the 2nd coat won't require as much material.

Would you photograph the entire home with roof view once you are done? Here in S. Florida, we have to deal with alot of issues, county, HOA's and such and seeing photos of what a completed roof looks like it better than describing a "White Roof" on a house that normally has darker shingles..

Thanks ..

OK, but I'll probably have to get on a ladder. You can't see the roof from the street. Only my neighbors with 2 or more story homes or decks can see it.

BTW, I just remembered. I had found something similar to this a while back. The guy used hydrated lime which I'm not sure how environmentally friendly that is but... well thats what he used. His results were fairly impressive too.

http://ecorenovator.org/forum/conser...0-degrees.html

I am impressed with the results. I have a 1000 sq ft portion of my roof that is nearly flat and a good candidate for painting. However, for the visible parts, my wife won't go for a bright white roof. I realize that white reflects more visible light than any color, but are there any reflective roof paints that come in colors other than white? Discounting visible light, there is still plenty of energy to reflect in the UV and IR band, so there has to be something. File:Solar Spectrum.png - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

It's tough to get even close to white: http://www.azcoolroof.com/downloads/...g%20Materi.pdf

Wait, here's one: Planet Supra Thermal Barrier Paint

Thanks- those look good. Now I just have to figure out how to pay for it. :-/

highly reflective surfaces...
 

I had a friend who had more copper than common sense...

He even put a sheet of copper in back of his wood stove, over a wooden wall. On the evening that I discovered this, I was over at his house and he had a hot fire roaring in his wood stove. I was sure that he was going to set his house on fire, because everyone knows that copper is an excellent conductor not only of electricity, but of of heat. It was obvious to me that the copper and the wall were going to be painfully hot to the touch, so to prove it to myself and to him, I lightly touched the surface of the copper, and it was cool... I couldn't believe it, so I touched another area, same thing.

So I'm now using copper-tinted plastic window film on my west-side windows. Makes a big difference in the summer.

-AC_Hacker

I replaced a small flat roof on my house with commercial grade bright white rubber over the summer. In direct sun, the rubber feels completely cool and the gray asphalt next to it nearly burns my hand. The rooms that the flat roof covers were noticeably cooler in the summer. I would imagine going from a dark shingle roof to bright white on the whole house would greatly reduce the need for cooling.

Its really a good idea its help full in preventing roof heating.i would like to tel you another energy saving technique nansulate its a very effective energy saving coating technique based on nanotechnology it worked thermal insulation that prevents the heat transformation from out side to inner wall and keeps the room temprature low.