Colour of roof

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What do you think of the recent trend for dark, sometimes even black roofs? I think they look great and should be fine in winter. However , in summer the lighter colours win hands down. How about a red colorbond roof? Would you go there?

 

I'm starting to paint the roof at my IP tomorrow. I'm going the dark grey in that first pic I think...the Dulux whatever it is color...roof paint stuff.

I'll post pics of it in my reno thread.

I wouldn't go the red. I wouldn't go for the lighter colors either unless the wall color just so happens to work really well with the roof color.

 

Aesthetically, I like darker greys.

 

Woodland grey? I really like it too.

 

Yes, me too. What do you think about the summer temperatures? Quite an issue out this way.

 

Out of my depth, @WattleIdo.

I know my physics and that the darker a material, the more heat it absorbs but haven't a clue if there are ways to mitigate that.

 

Modern insulation might do it but probably not viable in my old girl.

There's this to be considered:

Classification of COLORBOND® steel colours for BCA and BASIX
In order to recognise the cooling benefit of lower solar absorptance roofing some building regulations have incorporated it as an energy efficiency design parameter.

Light coloured (low solar absorptance) roofing material keeps cooler than darker coloured (high solar absorptance) roofing material. The cooler temperature has many benefits including the ability to reduce the energy costs for cooling a building. In order to recognise the cooling benefit of lower solar absorptance roofing some building regulations have incorporated it as an energy efficiency design parameter. Lower solar absorptance roofing typically qualifies for a roof insulation concession under prescriptive regulation. Alternatively, choosing low solar absorptance roofing lowers the assumed cooling (when using building verification software for compliance) helping achieve higher performance or lower building costs.

Colour Classification in Accordance with the BCA
The Building Code of Australia (BCA) has classified roof colour on the basis of their solar absorptance, referred herein as light, medium and dark, see the tables below for the ratings available for each product and colour.

Colour Classification in Accordance with the New South Wales BASIX
The New South Wales Building and Sustainability Index (BASIX) has also classified colour into light medium and dark on the basis of their solar absorptance. The light, medium and dark categories are also to be used in NatHERS accredited software if the verification path is used to meet the BASIX thermal comfort requirement. See the tables below for the solar absorptance and BASIX colour classification for our products.

SA=Solar Absorptance: The classification of colours in the BCA is based on solar absorptance, which is the inverse of solar reflectance, expressed as a ratio between 0 and 1. A SA value of 0 indicates that a roof absorbs none and a value of 1 indicates that a roof absorbs 100% of the incoming solar radiation.

The solar absorptance values shown are not applicable for COLORBOND® Stainless steel. See the individual colour swatches for the SA value for each product and colour.

BCA = The Building Code of Australia (BCA) has classified roof colour on the basis of their solar absorptance, referred herein as Light (L < 0.40), Medium (M < 0.60), Dark (D > 0.60). See the individual colour swatches for the ratings available for each product and colour. BCA classification is correct at the time of publishing but may be subject to change. Check your local state building regulations at the time of your project.

Table 1 - Classification of COLORBOND® steel Colours for BCA and BASIX for the COLORBOND® steel Standard 22 Colours
(see website http://www.steel.com.au/products/coated-steel/colorbond-steel/basix-and-bca-classification).
Colour Solar Absorptance BCA Classification BASIX Classification
BlueScope Steel Limited | ABN16000011058 | BlueScope is a trademark of BlueScope Steel Limited. Copyright © 2015 BlueScope Steel Limited

 

See also:

http://www.colormatters.com/color-and-science/color-and-energy-matters

On a 90 degrees F / 32.2 C clear sunny, day in Austin Texas, a white roof had a temperature of 110 degrees F / 43.3 C, an aluminum coated roof, 140 degrees F / 60 C, while a black, single ply roof, a temperature of almost 190 degrees F / 87.8 C (yes, one hundred and ninety degrees Fahrenheit, eighty seven plus degrees Celsius).

 

My favourite is the first roof pic. Looks like the colour of my garage door, front, back doors and windows. It is colourbond monument

 

We have a super dark grey roof on a black house we just built and moved into, shall see how we go through summer

 

Going very light for PPOR for these exact reasons - makes a huge difference to the heat in summar in the roof. If you do go black, you'll need active (not passive) ceiling space venting in many part of the country.

 

Solar aside, whilst dark colors can look less boring they can end up showing discoloration, chalkiness, fading etc.
Add a whirly bird or two (depending on home size) with eve and lower external wall vents (if not already installed) to exhaust ceiling/wall heat and moister.

 

Twice the temperature! Thanks for that.

As the house doesn't have ideal insulation and isn't much protected from the west, I'll just have to envy you dark-rooved groovers. Whirly birds and ventilation are sometging I can add.
On the other hand, I'll also be looking for ways to warm up in winter.

 

I like the first one too. I think it won't date.

 

I posted pics of the woodland grey roof color in the queenslander reno thread if you wanted to see what it's like.

 

When I built my first home, I went with the light grey. It always showed up marks and I had wished I had gone slightly darker.

 

I wouldn't be adverse to buying a property that had a red roof if the numbers stacked up, but aesthetically, it would cost the vendor dearly in my offer.

I would never deliberately put a red roof on a property during a build or renovation.

 

I'm not a fan of woodland grey @Tim86 as it has quite a green tint. Dulux have come out with a new proper grey last year called Basalt and that's what I'm going to use on my PPOR. I know it will be dark but I love the colour and we'll use really good insulation plus have solar panels (around 60) on the roof which provide additional shade to it.

Colorbond has done a lot of work on their darker colours to make them more thermal reflective. Basalt is a newer and darker colour than Woodland Grey but actually has better thermal reflection due to the new technology. Woodland Grey is 0.71 and Basalt is 0.69

You can compare them all here http://www.steel.com.au/products/coated-steel/colorbond-steel/basix-and-bca-classification

 

BTW I have used the lighter colours a lot with IPs and they work really well. Light colours are very popular in WA.

 

Yes Basalt looks interesting too. @Westminster - I thought you were a fan of surfmist?

But why? (genuine question ).
Have noticed it on some red brick houses and it actually looks good. Heritage green is another one I've seen around but I really don't like that colour. Also blue.

Was this surf mist?

There's actually a beigey type roof on there atm and I'm starting to like it though would not choose it myself - kind of like cove or paperbark.

@Westminster yes, that answers the question. I think the light rooves look great too.
Is that surfmist with white duck?