What Can I Put on a Tin Roof to Cool it Off?

About Tin Roofs

• Tin was used in times gone by as a durable roofing material for home and agricultural buildings. Today’s tin roofs are steel with a thin tin coating, according to home improvement expert Tim Carter at the Ask The Builder website. This combination gives the roof superb longevity, but it is more expensive than other types of roofing materials, such as asphalt and wood.

Heat Reflection and Absorption in Metal Roofs

• Metals such as tin, being good conducting materials, hold heat well. This ability can be a disadvantage during the summer in northern climates and year-round in sunny climates such as Florida and the American Southwest. In addition, metal roofs can reflect heat into the environment, causing intensely warm thermal islands that increase the need for cooling to other buildings. This effect occurs particularly in urban environments. The cool-roof concept uses light-reflective coatings to reduce the amount of heat absorbed into the roofing materials and into the building structure. This reduction means less energy is needed to cool the structure, resulting in reduced costs.

Unpainted Metal Roofs

• Even left unpainted, tin, as well as all metal roofs, will reflect the light and heat of the sun, resulting in a reduced need for cooling and reduced thermal emissions, compared to asphalt-type roofing. However, cool coatings increase this ability to reflect heat, resulting in greater savings in energy.

Paint for Tin Roofs

• Metal roofs can be painted for increased solar reflection and better energy savings. Generally, white or light colors are used, but paint manufacturers have developed improved products that combine pigments with reflective compounds to produce a wide range of colors to suit any home design. Coating materials contain a variety of compounds, such as silicon-polyester products offered by PPG, according to its website.

Elastomeric Membranes

• A number of roofing companies offer elastomeric membranes with cool, reflective properties that reduce heat transfer into the building interior. These membranes can be made of acrylic, polyvinyl chloride or other thermoplastic alloys, according to the Roofing Knowledge website.