Consulting Professionals of Roofing in Dallas TX: Brief Guide to Cool Roofs

Dallas, TX is considered to be one of the hottest cities in United States, where the temperature sometimes can exceed 100 degrees Fahrenheit. Air conditioner units are a norm here. But, with increasing cost of living, locals have to reluctantly allocate a significant portion of their monthly budget to the energy cost incurred while running these HVAC systems to keep their indoors cool. This is a devil’s pact where they have to compromise in order to provide comfortable living to their families in the warm summers of Texas. However, they are always looking to invest in solutions that can provide a balance between comfort and cost savings. These solutions may be the latest air conditioning systems equipped with energy saving technology, off-peak electricity circuit integrated systems or the recently fast-becoming-popular cool roofs.
As professionals of roofing in Dallas TX, we decided to blog on the subject of cool roofs where our aim would be:

• To guide the locals in understanding the concept behind cool roofs.
• To explain what benefits do cool roofs have to offer besides keeping the indoors pleasant during summers.
• To explain how you can transform some of the existing roof systems into a cool roofing solution.

So let’s get started.

Cool Roof – This is NOT Something New

If you have ever travelled to the Mediterranean shores or Middle East, you will observe there are plenty of homes and buildings which have already deployed cool roofs as part of their roofing system. In fact even North America has been well stocked with the information on cool roofs, where the United States Department of Energy first started researching on its benefits back in 1980s. So, this is something definitely NOT new.
Mediterranean and Middle Eastern countries were one of the earliest adopters of cool roof solutions, with United States conducting its own research on the technology during 1980s.
Previous studies from the DOE were not convincing enough for the manufacturers to shift their focus immediately. But as time went on and the efforts became more aggressive, the US manufacturing and consumer market started realizing the potential of cool roof technology. No wonder, the cool roof sector has now become one of the fastest growing domains in building and construction industry.

Cool Roofs: How Do They Work?

To understand how cool roof works, you need to consider the analogy where wearing light colored shirts in summer help us to battle the outdoor heat. These light colored shirts absorb less heat because of which you feel cooler even when the sun is infuriatingly glaring at you. Cool roofs work the same way. They are made of highly reflective covering or painted material which allows them to reflect most of the sunlight and absorb less heat. This helps to keep your indoors cool during summer.
Covering the technical details in brief, the cool roof technology is characterized by:

• High solar reflectivity, meaning, that it reflects most of the sunlight back into the atmosphere unlike dark traditional roofs. The ideal solar reflectivity rating is 1.0.
• High thermal emissivity, meaning, that it radiates most of the absorbed heat energy from the UV radiation back into the sky. The ideal thermal emissivity rating is 1.0.

To learn more about the technical working of a cool roof technology, its ratings and how different factors support its working mechanism, consult professionals of roofing in Dallas TX.

Benefits of Cool Roofs

The benefits of cool roof technology are listed as follows:

• It helps in lowering electricity consumption by reducing air conditioning needs. This helps to cut on electricity bills.
• It helps to provide cooling in areas and rooms of a building where air conditioner unit is not installed.
• It extends a roof’s service life as the roofing system absorbs less heat energy, which is one of the main factors that contribute to premature ageing and roof deterioration. To learn more about how incorporating cool roof technology can extend the life of your roofing systems, please consult certified professionals of roofing in Dallas TX.
• It helps to reduce carbon footprints from fossil fuel powered plants, by lowering electricity demand.
• It helps to reduce urban heat island effect.
• It helps to prevent blackouts and brownouts by reducing the load on a local power grid.
• Some states offer tax credits for installing standard compliant cool roofs in commercial and residential buildings. For further information on tax rebates, please contact your local professionals of roofing in Dallas TX.

Retrofitting Existing Roof Systems with Cool Roof Technology

Before we proceed with this section, please note that retrofitting and designing improvisations should only be carried out by certified professionals of roofing in Dallas TX. These suggestions only serve as rough guidelines and the explanation has been kept simple and precise to aid in the understanding of homeowners and management authorities of commercial buildings.

Transforming Low Sloped Roofs

The prefabricated sheets of single ply membranes can be reformulated with reflective pigments or paint to transform them into cool roofs. In applications where reformulation is not possible, coat the membrane with the desired cool roofing product. Consult professionals of roofing in Dallas TX and plan a transformation strategy which can be executed conveniently.
For built up low-sloped roofs, the surface layer can be substituted with reflective marble chips or asphalt dipped gray slag. You can also use reflective mineral granules or apply a cool coating on the emulsion. Consult your local professionals of roofing in Dallas TX to decide which strategy would suit you best.
Low sloped roofs with modified bitumen sheet membranes, like single ply membranes, can be recoated with a cool roof coating product which needs to be done offsite.

Transforming Steep Sloped Roofs

Steep sloped shingle roofs can be transformed into cool roofs by substituting the panels with granule coated asphalt panels. Another strategy is to recoat the existing shingles but it is not recommended. For more information on this, please consult experienced professionals of roofing in Dallas TX.

Other Suggestions

Homeowners and building owners can also invest in a green roof or spray polyurethane roofing system, which inherently incorporate cool roof technology.
 
Cool roofs strike the perfect balance between cost-saving, energy saving and aesthetics. As such, they should be an important consideration for every new construction or roof restoration project. If you are looking for professionals of roofing in Dallas TX to help you out with your roofing project, please contact us here.