Steep Sloped Roofs

Shingled Roofs consist of overlapping panels made from any of numerous materials. F iberglass asphalt shingles, commonly used on homes, are coated with granules for protection. Cool asphalt shingles are use specially coated granules that provide better solar reflectance. While it is possible to coat existing asphalt shingles to make them cool, this is not normally recommended or approved by shingle manufacturers. Other shingles are made from wood, polymers, or metals and these can be coated at the factory or in the field to make them more reflective. Metal shingles are described in the Metal Roofs section that follows.

Tile Roofs can be made of clay, slate, or concrete. Clay and slate tiles come from the ground, so their colors differ depending on the earth’s composition. Some varieties will naturally be reflective enough to achieve cool roof standards. Tiles can be also be glazed to provide waterproofing or coated to provide customized colors and surface properties. These surface treatments can transform tiles with low solar reflectance into cool roof tiles.