Cool Roof Options for Your Commercial Property

What Are Cool Roofs?

Cool roofs work the same way light-colored clothes work in the summertime: they keep you cooler by reflecting heat from the sun. This is known as solar reflectance — the ability to reflect the infrared, UV and visible wavelengths from the sun, which in effect reduces heat transfer.

This is why cool roofs are often offered by every roofing contractor in Tampa, FL, in light colored finishes.

High solar reflectance, combined with high thermal emittance (the ability to radiate already-absorbed solar energy), counteracts all the heat coming from above and reduces the strain on your building air conditioning.

Cool Roof Options

Switching from one roofing type to another (from metal to membrane, for instance) may require modifications to the roof bed to accommodate the new material. You’re less likely to modify the system if you’re just adding cool roof features on the same roofing type. Here are the roofing options that you can get from commercial roofers.

• EPDM and TPO are single-ply roofing membranes have become a popular cool roofing choice. They’re lighter, faster to install, and extremely durable against weathering. Newer membranes have also proven to be tear-resistant under normal use. They also come in light-colored pigments with high solar and thermal reflectance. This type of roofing works best on low-sloped or flat roofs.
• Metal roofing in St Petersburg, FL, is a long time staple of commercial (and even residential) roofing in Florida. The great thing about metal roofing is that it holds up well against storms and hurricanes, which Tampa Bay residents are very familiar with. Unpainted metal roofs are great solar reflectors, but terrible thermal emitters. The latter problem is solved by specially-designed paints that balance the two features out.
• Modified bitumen is a multi-ply membrane roofing which, combined with hot asphalt, forms a strong and durable protective layer. A specially-designed top layer can be applied to create a solar-reflecting and thermal-emitting surface.

As the most trusted roofing contractor in the Florida area, you can count on Affordable Roofing Systems to address your commercial roofing needs. Call us today at (813) 542-8462 of fill out our contact form