White Roof

This is the roof of our Ark after we painted it with two coats of Ultra-Roof 1000 "white siliconized elastomeric coating." The difference is profound -- on a hot sunny day a bare metal roof will burn your hand, but after painting it white, the roof is cool to the touch, at least in comparison to the bare metal. That heat gets transmitted down through the insulation, heating the house during a time of year when you would prefer it to remain cool.

It seems logical, does it not, to reflect the heat away in the first place?

It's like a planet. Every planet, if it wishes to remain habitable, prefers white ice caps at the poles, to reflect away extra heat and moderate the global temperature.

Driving around the valley the other day, doing bee errands, I paid close attention and noticed that white roofs are very rare. They simply aren't fashionable. It's easier just to turn the air conditioning up another notch. What a strange culture we live in.