How Cool is That?

This week I spoke with Eric Bray, sales manager for Bone Dry Roofing in Athens, Georgia about a large cool roofing job his company recently completed at the University of Georgia.  The architect selected GAF Timberline Prestique roofing in Cool Barkwood.  This is a LEED project, and the project team expects to be awarded points for several elements of the roof assembly.  The design includes vented nail base, extensive insulation, and vented ridges and fascia, all of which, in combination with the cool roofing, will improve energy efficiency, indoor air quality, and reduce urban heat island effect. 

Here’s a graphic explaining how cool shingles work, courtesy of the Cool Roof Rating Council:

 

The Timberline Cool Barkwood is a great looking color, complementing the brick structure well - even though it’s fairly dark to the eye, it still has a Solar Reflectance Index of 29, and the specially coated granules reflect the heat-building infrared portion of the spectrum.

Here’s a quote from Eric: “The University of Georgia has a beautiful campus and energy efficiency has become an important factor in the design of their projects.  So both purpose and appeal have become important. One of the issues with the Energy Star rated roofs is, there aren’t a lot of color options – Cool Barkwood (aptly named for this application) is about the best looking option .  On this job, even from the road, the color looks fantastic.  When choosing a shingle for a project, unless I’m requested otherwise, GAF is what I recommend and will use.  The new Cool Series shingles only adds to my confidence in using GAF shingle products.”

Eric also sent me some progress shots:

  

I also asked if was noticeably cooler up there on the job – working up on a roof in the summer in Georgia, it gets pretty hot.  Eric asked his crew, and they couldn’t absolutely say that it was cooler on the roof – during installation, they didn’t really notice a difference.  This was good to hear, in a way.  The technology is in the granule – otherwise, these are normal shingles with no special accommodations or unfamiliar installation methods required.  However, check out this video we made to see if a fried egg can tell cool shingles! 

Cool shingles are pretty cool, and can mean big benefits to the builder and to the property owner.  How cool is that?

Comments

[Maryland Roofing Contractor]

Hey Marty,

Great post and excellent video - extremely funny!

Quick question...
Could I use this graphic for an online article that I'm writing? I will cite the source properly.

[Martin Grohman]

Sorry for slow response. The graphic is from the CRRC and if credited/backlinked properly I think it should be OK to use it.