Summer is the time to let loose and have fun. It’s the season where parties are more and more common, and the fun knows no bound. However, summer also comes with unbearable heat and warmth.
The temperature can often become too high and have an impact on our health. Thus, many people prefer staying at home with the comfort of air conditioning and cooling systems. However, our conventional roofs can trap a lot of heat in them.
Our traditional system of roofing can increase the temperature of our rooms by up to 10 degrees celsius. But, many of us don’t know how to deal with excessively hot roofs and eventually end up struggling in the scorching heat.
In this article, we’re going to discuss a few tips to keep your roof cool and protect you from the unbearable heat. That being said, let’s begin!
Roofing Shingles
Roofing shingles are a great way to fight the heat. Thanks to its design, it prevents overheating and helps to maintain a normal temperature even in hot regions. Also, bitumen roofing shingles do not fade, they are resistant to harmful environmental impacts, decay, corrosion, fire damage, and, what is very important, they perform well at extreme temperatures, as mentioned above.
Painting Your Roof
One of the simplest ways to deal with a hot roof is by adding a layer of paint over it. The paint absorbs a great deal of the sunshine, and eventually the heat as well. Also, roof coating paints are currently available everywhere, which are a series of white and silver paints with special pigments to absorb heat.
It’s relatively inexpensive when compared to other methods and easy to apply. Cover it thoroughly and let the paint dry well. Also, most roof coating paints are waterproof, so you get protection from rain as well.
However, if your roof is slanted, the reflective paint will attract a lot of attention and might even cause problems for neighbours or people going through the nearby streets. Also, reflective colours require permission in some parts of the world, so keep that in mind as well.
Make a Roof Garden
If you have a flat roof and a green thumb, this tip is just for you! House roofs generally attract a lot of sunlight, so your plants will get the room to grow easily. However, although covering your roof entirely isn’t feasible, so keep lanes and spaces for walking. Get flower beds, planter boxes and everything else you need and get to work.
However, you have to keep a few things in mind while making a roof garden; your roof has to be structurally sound enough to hold everything together.
Otherwise, you might risk an accident by putting too much stuff on your roof. Also, you need a steady water supply to provide water to your plants, so check that beforehand as well.
Add a Layer of Tiles
Tiles are a cheap alternative to make your roof look good while reflecting a healthy dose of heat as well. You can choose any tiles for your roof, specialized roof tiles or the regular shiny tiles that radiate heat. However, cutting and putting tiles is a complicated, labour-intensive process.
Add Reflective Gravel
If you have a flat roof with slightly raised edges, this can be a good option. Reflective gravels are available everywhere and for very cheap. You can get large portions for a price less expensive than paint or other reflective material.
You can pour them all over your roof, evenly distributing it all over the place. The gravels will attract the heat and radiate it away, keeping the inside of your house cool.
However, one major caveat of using gravels is that the roof is likely to be out of use. In most other methods, you can access the roof and do something with it.
However, gravels will make it very hard for you to do anything with your roof. So, if you plan on doing something with your roof, this is not a good idea.
Set up Solar Panels
Solar panels are the future of electricity. As the world moves for clean, renewable energy sources for the near future, being a part of the revolution can be a perfect idea.
Solar panels attract sunlight towards them and convert them into clean energy. While the electricity you get might not be too much, it can reduce your electric bills in the long run.
Even though solar panels require an upfront investment, the investment becomes worth it with years of use. Also, as technology is rapidly getting developed, the maintenance and instalment costs are reducing gradually as well.
However, similar to gravel, it does make your roof inaccessible as well, so keep that in mind as well.
Use a Roof Mist Cooling System
This is super techy, but super cool nonetheless. Similar to a garden mist system, you can set up a similar system in your roof. They add a small amount of water across the ceiling in the form of mist and let it evaporate and accumulate.
This can quickly reduce the temperature of your room by 5-20 degrees easily. Also, since it’s sprayed as a mist, the water wastage is very low as well. So, worth a shot if you’re willing to spend a bit of money.
Set up a Layer of Polyurethane Foam
Polyurethane foams can last a long time if taken care of well. Albeit this is a bit technical, this is almost a permanent solution. A layer of polyurethane foam is applied on top of your everyday roof material. An aerosol spray is added to make sure it holds up properly.
The foam can take a while to settle, but once settled; it will radiate away heat and prevent water from entering. Also, this is non-reflective so it won’t trouble your neighbours either.
So, it’s a very good buy for sloppy roofs as well. However, the entire process is very technical so we recommend contacting your nearby roof coating contractors to help you with it.
Conclusion
While summer is the season for parties, everyone longs for comfort when they’re home. However, as the days get hotter, so do our houses as the heat is left there trapped.
We often make a mistake in choosing the right material for our roofs and eventually deal with days of unbearable heat. To fix your problem, we’ve discussed a few ways through which you can protect yourself from the summer heat. We hope you find this article helpful.
