Roof Shingle Color
masincalgary
| Posted in General Questions on
Does the colour of shingles matter in a climate that is not really hot and when ventilation is adequate? (I’m re-shingling and want to know of considerations to be aware of, if any). Thank you!
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There are some studies showing that roofing colour can have an effect on attic conditions, but in a moderate climate with an attic that is functioning properly I do not think there should be any issue with changing colour. Are you goimg from black to white or some other extreme?
Thank you very much. I mainly don't want to miss something and don't fully trust someone to tell me. I'm going from cedar shakes to black asphalt and increasing the ventilation. I'll be adding solar, and from an aesthetic point of view, the black will simply look sharp. It's a two story with a low slope roof, so not much of it really shows.
It will take pretty extreme color differences to really make any noticeable difference. I have actually done some experiments with a commercial datacenter building that had a pitch roof (basically black with some dark gravel). We painted the roof white with some cheap paint. The result was measureable, so it did make a difference, but we went from near-black to bright white, which is about as extreme of a change as you can do. The difference was in the one or two degree range inside, but was mostly noticeable not as a difference in indoor temperature rise but rather WHEN the the indoor temperature peaked -- the white roof delayed the peak to later in the day.
If you are choosing between a lightish gray and a darker gray shingle, you probably won't see any significant temperature difference.
Bill