Vintage look and feel, modern energy efficiency

By Dani Sheehan. 

When it comes to choosing a new roof, it’s personal. Help homeowners understand their unique advantages by choosing a cool metal roof.  

Metal roofing has gained considerable momentum in the industry over the past several years. More contractors are adding it to their skillset and offerings, and we boast of its sustainability compared to other roofing materials. But how well are we selling it to homeowners, and how likely are they to choose metal over traditional asphalt shingles? We recently caught up with Richard King, marketing manager for AEP Span, a company which specializes in the manufacturing of commercial metal roofing and siding. Not only did he share some of his favorite products with us, but he defines key terms that can help homeowners make the most of their sustainable investment when choosing a metal roof. 

Richard’s favorite cool roof color is called Vintage. He shares, “Vintage is a bit of a unique paint color because it doesn’t have a primer so it’s this kind of translucent paint over the actual metal itself. So, what that means is it has this depth of color, and you get a little bit of the texture of the metal underneath. And then also because it is slightly translucent, the color changes a little bit throughout the day.” 

When it comes to talking with homeowners about the energy efficiency of a metal roof, Richard says there are three terms to really wrap your head around: solar reflectance, emissivity and the solar reflectance index. He defines them, saying, “[Solar reflectance] refers to how much of the radiation from the sun is reflected off the surface, and so radiation from the sun can be both visible and invisible, and that invisible one is what leads to heat trapped in a surface.” Emissivity, on the other hand, is how effective the material is at dissipating heat. He continues, “So when the heat hits the surface, how effective is it at getting back down in temperature? [The solar reflectance index] basically combines those two in a complex formula that combines factors such as air flow to get this overarching number of how effective the material is at reflecting heat.” 

The higher the solar reflectance index, the better the color or material is at preventing heat transfer. These numbers are often provided in the product information, which can be useful to walk through with your customers when evaluating color choices with them. Many homeowners do not realize that the color of their roof will directly affect their energy costs throughout the year. 

Help your homeowners choose an energy efficient and sustainable new roof with AEP Span. Visit their website to learn more about their cool roof colors.