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Roof paint?
11:25 PM 09/10/2012
I was told that my roof requires silver paint and minor repairs in order to prolong its life. Anyone else got their roof painted? Which paint did you use? Are there eco-friendly roof paints? How much did it cost and any recommendations of roofers? Thank you!
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I would recommend Henry's white elastomeric (rubberized) roof coating. You can buy it by the 5 gallon bucket at home depot for ~$100 bucks.
Apply it with a standard paint roller on an expand-able pole (like what you would use to paint any interior ceiling).
The color (silver or white) is for reflectance. Black colored roofs don't reflect any sunlight and get extrordinarily hot in the summer. That hotness superheats your attics/roof carwl spaces and translates down to the top floor in the house. Around here, it is a common reason why the top floor of your house is so hot.
Silvercoating has been the "typical" color the past 10 years, but is nearly as worthless as black. The color silver only refleects marginally more of the suns rays as does black. This white coating reflects 90% of the suns rays and leaves your roof warm to the touch in the middle of a summer day. You would get 3rd degree burns if you left your hand on your black roof any normal dc day.
The rubberized coating seals your roof. I believe this Henry's stuff has a 10 year warranty but there are other makes as well.
Don't bother hiring someone to do it. Most normal sized roofs can be done in a couple of hours so there is no reason not to bread and do it yourself.2:43 PM 09/11/2012 | 0 Votes
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Comments (1)
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Have to disagree with the "silver coating is nearly as worthless as black." Aluminum roof paint (Henry makes this too, at Home Depot, but cheaper) will reflect 55-60% of incoming heat. The Henry white products (like Envirowhite) reflect about 90%. But ~55% is much much better than a black roof!That said, I'd go with the white stuff IF it can adhere to the underlying roof properly. Henry (eg) makes different products for SBS vs single ply vs built up roofs. Depending on the roof and its condition, you might need to put down primers for the most reflective white paint. I think the aluminum paints are more tolerant of different substrates, but I'm going from shaky memory.
4:16 PM 09/11/2012
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Washington, DC
Yes, I've done this myself and besides my fear of heights, it's really an easy job.... I would be careful, however, because you mentioned that your roof also needs "repair." This type of paint will not fix a roof, it simply improves its performance. But if you have leaks or buckles, that should be fixed prior to applying this paint.
3:18 PM 09/11/2012 | 0 Votes
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If you do need to hire someone to repair your roof, DO NOT hire Kelbie Home Improvement. I had an incredibly bad experience with them. Want further proof? Do a search on "Kelbie Home Improvement" on the online court-case lookup Web sites for Maryland and D.C. Kelbie seemingly is in court more than he's on a roof. The company is either being sued or is suing someone all the time.
3:40 PM 09/11/2012 | 0 Votes
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