Will painting a metal roof help keep it cooler

old · Jun 29, 2012

My shop and a few other buildings I have are old and rust colored roofs. If I paint it with aluminum or white paint will it in fact make them a bit cooler in side. Right now most of the roofs are a nice showing there age rust color. Climbed up on one a bit ago and I could not hold my hand on it for more the a second or so. I have a lot of old paint laying around that I have picked up over the years and figure maybe if I paint them the shop might be a tad bit cooler plus of course the roof will last longer. Only problem is as hot as it is the paint would dry before I got it on the roof or almost

Billy NY · Jun 29, 2012

I think the lighter color and or reflective qualities of aluminized paint, should reflect light and not get so hot, but heat rises and it would seem ventilation would be much more effective in reducing the temperature inside or at least move enough air so its tolerable.

I would use care in selecting/applying old or materials that may or may not be intended for metal roof coating, even if its what you have, free or cost very little. My concerns would be doing the work and having it fail, but more so, say you have the means down the road to get something intended for the purpose, but what you put on earlier it may not be compatible with, won't bond or adhere etc, just some thoughts.

We have a barn with a terrible roof, dear ole dad wanted to coat the entire thing with alum. paint, but the other problems require silicon sealant, and it won't bond to asphaltic type materials like that alum paint, kind of why I mention it.

This time of year, I'd want to be starting that job at 5 am, and knocking off before 10, then maybe later evening, following morning or wait until the seasons change and its cooler, brutal conditions with all that metal reflecting, radiating heat.

jackinok · Jun 29, 2012

Yes it can,years ago my bro in law sold a roof coating made by conklin that guaranteed the building to be 20 degrees cooler. I didnt believe it so we did a test.took two uninsulated block buildings side by side with plain metal roofs.Put a calibrated thermometer in each ,and painted only one buildings roof according the instructions.It dropped the temp a measured 25 degrees inside. I still didnt believe it so I swapped thermometers.They still showed the same.note ,this stuff was VERY white,so white the sun reflecting off the building would almost burn your eyes.but it did as it said. i dont even know if conklin is still in buisness but that was some good stuff.that has to have been 25 years ago and just looking at those buildings from the road it seems to be holding up well also.

dcarp · Jun 29, 2012

Check out a roof coating by a company called Hy-Tech Thermal Solutions. I have used it and experienced a great drop in temps inside the shop. They have a number of different products that use a technology developed by NASA.
Untitled URL Link

jm. · Jun 29, 2012

This part of the country it is common to see folks paint house trailers with a product called alumi-seal or something like that. Seals minor leaks and also helps on the heat .

rustred · Jun 29, 2012

thats why fuel storage tanks are silver in color so they reflect the heat. dont see black fuel tanks. i even asked that question when buying tin for the roof as i wanted black. he said in roofing tin there would not be much temp diff. between the colors. i did not do any experiments with the colors either. just bought black.

guido · Jun 29, 2012

Hello old,
I would wait untill there is shade on the roof, and then paint it black. It will REFLECT all the heat, and you will be as cool as a cucomber!
After a read the post I had to stop, and compose myself.
Really old white would be a good choice,if you can get it on there from the can before it dryed in the air! It must be really hot your way!!!!!
Guido.

guido · Jun 29, 2012

Hello rustred,
Black it hot white is not or something like that.
Storage tanks are painted white for gas and propane, it reflects more heat then a darker color, those are the two product that come to mind, that are store that way.
Grey color is used for diesel or home heating oil,being a heavier product they will flow better in the colder months.
Guido.

rustred · Jun 29, 2012

thats what i am talking about. light color to reflect the heat. but on my shop i took black cause thats what i wanted and they said there would be little notice it temp diff.

Jerry/MT · Jun 29, 2012

Painting it white will will reduce the temperature significantly Painting it silver will also reduce the temperature but not as well as white. A friend did some research on this subject for his masters at the university of Texas back in the early "70"s and that was their conclusion afer running some experiments.

White paint reflects the whole spectrum while silver paint doesn"t.

old · Jun 29, 2012

I am lucky that I live in a shaded valley but even then I have been having to water cool my A/C system for it to keep the house any where near cool. Last I checked in the shade it is between 95-100 depending on which of the 3 thermometers you look at. As for paint any roof I will wait till around 7-8pm to even think about doing it

old · Jun 29, 2012

Guess I need to look at the paints I have and see if I have any exterior white paint. I know I have the aluminum paint on hand but not sure if I have any white. I have I know some white interior paint but that would not last very long in the weather

jm. · Jun 29, 2012

Breaking an ALL TIME since they have kept records here in central Tennessee. 109.4 deg at 2.30 past record was 107+ I know that is nothing for you guys out west but pretty hot for these parts.

old · Jun 29, 2012

Many records here in Missouri are going down to the heat we are having right now. Yesterday 4 or more where broken and today will be the same

guido · Jun 29, 2012

Hello old,
It is hot here today also!. you can also use the aluminum looking paint it is used for old trailer homes. It has the effect of sealing as well as reflecting lots of the sun's rays.
keep kool man, its a hot one here too!
I was going to run water on the roof peak of my garage, 55 degrees well water may make a difference?

Guido.

guido · Jun 29, 2012

Hello rustred,
Yep! you are right. How about a water sprnkler of some kind on the roof ridge. Well water is pretty cool, maybe its time for an invention or copy one already been done.

Guido.

old · Jun 29, 2012

I have known people to set up a sprinkler on the roof of buildings so as to help cool them off and from what I have heard it does in fact help.
Since I have a garden hose running all the time for either the garden or the ducks/chicken I am trying to figure out a way to set and old car radiator up so the water goes into and out of it and have that set up so the fan from the A/C unit sucks some air threw it and that in turn should help cool the AC system some and make it work better. Just need to get the right size pipe fittings so I can hook up the hoses to it

rustred · Jun 29, 2012

i have no heat problem. just had to keep the rain out as the shingles were shot. went with tin.

fixerupper · Jun 29, 2012

Rich, back about 1990 or so I sprayed my barn with white latex with no primer. Barn is wood except for part of the north side which has old galvanized tin screwed onto the barn siding. Today the paint is almost gone from the wood but it's looking real good on the galvanized tin, except for where the hogs rubbed it off. This paint probably wouldn't have fared so well on the roof where it's in the rapid expansion-contraction from the sun and gets beat on by the rain but????? Jim

guido · Jun 29, 2012

Hello old,
As soon as it gets a bit cooler. i'm going to set up something for the garage.
It was 96 degrees F. inside today, can't do anywork in it now.
Fireman use a water system and a fan, it does work.You need to get the right size radiator, or spray the water in a mist and let a fan blow it.
Guido.

guido · Jun 29, 2012

Hello rustred,
I do! If its 95 Degrees outside it pretty much 95 degrees inside.
Just a shell with open studs and no insulation.
Was not meant to be used year around, that is why I built it that way.
Guido.

IA Roy · Jun 30, 2012

As far as cooling a roof off with water, It is supposed to work better if you run a wet then a drying cycle. This causes evaporative cooling which takes more heat off of the roof surface. The same is true of cooling livestock. However this probably works better on shingles than on steel roofing as it will hold more water longer.
As far as cooling your air conditioner, a fine mist on the coil would probably do as much good as doing enything with a truck radiator, unless you put the raidator in the house. A friend lived in Kansas in the 60's when going to college and rented a house that was cooled with a fan and a truck radiator. They pumped water from a sandpoint well and then put the water on the lawn, thus making it green and the excess went back in the ground and sooner or later went back to the well.

Texasmark1 · Jun 30, 2012

I did the test on my Propane tank. Painted it alum first and wasn't satisfied with the results so painted it white.

If anyone doesn't realize the reflective properties of white paint, just paint the West wall of your house with white paint on a summer's afternoon. Will erase any doubts and you will probably wait till morning to finish that side of the house.

Additionally, my shop is white tin and when I stand in front of the west wall on a summer's afternoon it's like a clam bake. Feel the wall and it's pretty cool. Go over to a black surface and feel that for a comparison.

I bought a boat once and although the hull was brown, I specified the deck in white. My last boat had a metalflake blue deck......get the drift!

Used to see a snow roof coating for mobile homes advertised. Had to be a boon to that kind of housing.

HTH,
Mark

Will painting a metal roof help keep it cooler

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