Advice re colourbond - light or dark for energy saving?
I'm about to replace the rusty iron roof (originally red) of a red brick federation cottage in Newcastle with colourbond. The trims will eventually be repaired and repainted too, so the new roof colour doesn't have to match the existing painted trims. There are LOTS of different opinions about energy costs of light vs dark roofs. I hear that while a light coloured roof may reduce cooling costs in summer, a dark roof may also reduce heating costs in winter. (The house has neither heating nor cooling installed at present; I will live in it through both seasons before installing anything more permanently, but in the meantime the roof does need more urgent attention). The roof is VERY visible from the road (house on a corner of a fairly busy road, which runs downhill); I'm slightly worried about a super bright light roof being really reflective and upsetting traffic. I'd prefer a dark roof simply because I think it will look better (esp with a lighter colour palette for the wood trims and potentially some renovated tuck-pointing), but don't know whether the 'environmentally-unfriendly' criticism is valid. The roof WILL have an insulation blanket, but also there will be batts in the ceiling. Could such insulation offset the cooling/heating costs in any case? Does anyone have any tips or experiences to share, and/or useful sites for more information?
Comments (41)
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Energy efficient design
Comments (26)I certainly can't speak for "all clients" but we are going through that process right now. We bought a block of land intending to knockdown rebuild. Being a fan of eco and green designs from my time living in Europe, I spent time hunting for the right person to design and build the new home to be functional, beautiful and highly energy efficient. We wanted the energy efficiency to form the bedrock for the rest of the design and build, but did not (as many responders have pointed out) that to compromise the flow or aspects of the design we felt to be important. To be honest, it was harder than you would think. A lot of people we approached seemed to assume that energy efficient design meant a "designer label" approach and wanted to charge a massive fee for the privilege. This was very disappointing. I don't think that good, eco design should be restricted to those with money to burn. Affordability certainly limited our choices. Although it starts with a good design that makes the most of the site and the client's wishes, it should not stop there. There is a wealth of information out there pointing to the places in every building where heat / cool air is lost and where a building becomes inefficient. It takes a knowledge of insulation, suitable materials and building techniques to ensure that the resulting house actually does what it said it would. I don't think that gap has been closed as effectively as people think. BASIX is a basic or minimum standard, after all (and perhaps this is not well understood by us as clients and consumers - it has been a hard 18 month journey to understand the complexity of the issues around eco design). Again, affordability becomes a major factor because it is still seen as heavily "bespoke" rather than a natural evolution of the way we build for the future. Finally (and it's worth saying), the information around this topic is not easy to find. Being a meticulous researcher, it still took me in depth searching over many weeks and months to find the right people and the right information. I suspect many people just too time poor and don't have the time or energy to do this. As a consumer, I would hope that the companies I deal with understand these principals as a bare minimum but suspect that not everyone (on client or trade side) is yet seeing this as a basic standard. Although it was integral to our project, I don't think energy efficient principals is at the top of the list for everyone - if my interactions with the trade side were any judge of the industry. It's an interesting question, very pertinent. Thank you for asking it; I'd be curious to know why you wanted to ask?...See MoreSkylight and Flat Colourbond Roofing help
Comments (7)roof without leaks is number 1 priority and although we loved our old Velux roof windows they leaked over time and were too hot on hot days and the blinds are very expensive so they were replaced with Solar Skylights and, although not as pretty as the roof windows and having no ventilation they can't leak because there's no hole in the roof and operate as a solar powered "light" connected to a small roof mounted solar panel with fibre optic cable (our two 25cm Solar Skylights do a great job brightening our 5 x 7 m kitchen dining area and cost about $500 with DIY installation.....See MoreWe're new to renovating and would love your advice
Comments (94)Just to confirm I have taken the great ideas presented here as advice only and have no intention to do some dodgy diy reno's. With the exception of a couple of quirky exposed timbers as you can see in my pictures there are no other exposed beams. As you can also see from the pictures there is a large roof space on the right (east) side of the house but the ceilings themselves are flat with a slight dip on the north wall. Based on my own personal experiences I would have to agree with Two's Company that there is a tendency towards rendered brick in WA (although there are still many exposed brick houses in my suburb) while double enclosed double garages are also highly desirable. I would also agree that toilets within the main bathroom and non traditional laundries may be considered unusual by many (but not all). Ensuites with toilets however are still very common. Also due to the nature of our work we would prefer the laundry separated from food/kitchen area. For a 4x2 house it is only around 155m2 excluding carport/alfresco which makes the rooms feel quite cramped, hence the desire to open up the family room. However, as Two's Company suggests we will need to first get a builder/eng in to check load bearing walls etc as this will undoubtedly affect what we can achieve within our budget. Having said that I still excited by many of your ideas and with luck hopefully can work some of them into the budget. Cheers all :)...See MoreDark, Closed-Off Lounge – info from structural engineer!
Comments (29)Well, I had a structural engineer come to the house yesterday at a cost of $600. I thought I would get drawings or something for that price but this is what he said.....(oh, before his visit, I cute into some of the plaster of the dividing wall between kitchen and lounge and the brick wall goes all the way along the wall). Structural engineer said that the wall is load bearing because he think that it provids support the support rafters (or what the horizontal beams that are at the bottom of the cathedral ceiling). Those horizontal beams that go across the house (each one from back to front of house) and partly supported by the brick dviding wall. He said that if I totally removed the overhead walkway, I would still need to leave a post or some of the brick on either side of the current dividing wall , as well as a support beam between them. He said I could cut out a window into the wall, but the bigger the window the bigger the horizontal support beam would be required. He said he didnt like working with brick because it was not like timber etc, where you can calculate what load it takes. He said there can be a lot of variation in a brick wall. He said that I should contact a building designer (someone who can give an idea of design whilst also consdiering loads and being able to draw plans...he said normally, those people will ask his advice on something). I hate tryin to do renos, because you can spend a lot of money and not really get much from it, and also go in circles about knowing who is the best person to contact. I know I do need someone to help give me an idea of design, but someone who also takes into consideration comparative costs including structural elements/loads etc. When I said to him ..so I shouldnt see an architect, he said that he often sees things from architects with no technical drawings...just design only. I really would like to be able to see the view at the back from anyway in the house, but I am a little bit reluctant to move plumbing, as I imagine with a concrete floor, the costs will start to rise significantly if plumbing has to be moved. I tend to spend most of my sitting outside time, at the back of the house, looking at the lake...even though there is only 1.5metres from the back of my property to public land (and that I have to put fencing up there to keep my dogs in). It is only me and my dogs at the place, but I do want to make sure that any changes that i make are family friendly and AirBnB friendly. The exisitng laundry seems to have heaps of wasted space in it and because the current windown is so high in it, it seems to be very segregated from the outside pool and not in the best place. I dont know what to do with this place....See More
10 years agoJust look around your neighbourhood and see what colours exist and that will give you a pretty good indication if there are any colour restrictions in place.
If most of the roofs are the same colour, it's a pretty good indication that council has restrictions but definitely check with your local council.
Whilst you are in this very important decision of chosing a colour, you could in fact re invent your entire home decore, so I would seek professional help in making the right choice for the type of home you have and the ultimate look you're after in the end.
As for insulation, we have just had our roof completed albeit on a new home, we have a 22.5* pitch, yours looks more than that or at least as much.
We are placing factor 7 into our roof instead of the usual 3.5 batts as part of our compulsory energy rating but most heat enters and escapes through the roof so more insulation there can never be a bad decision, so colour choice should really be a factor.
We chose Jasper for our roof colour rather then Hedland which is the colour I originally wanted, now deleted, Manor Red, is probably the colour your roof was.
I am somewhat glad that I didn't go with Hedland, as I think it would have dated an otherwise modern looking home in my case built with Mt Gambier limestone.
montiadis thanked Barbara Dunstan
10 years ago- 10 years agolast modified: 10 years ago
I think your ideas about the charcoal/blue and lighter greys with the red brick are inspired! I also have noticed that many federation have the red roof tiles instead of tin roof. I believe that you would do well going with either the traditional Manor Red (colorbond classic) or a darker shade of grey from the contemporary range such as Ironstone or Basalt.
This picture of a renovated Federation house gives a great representation of the aforementioned colour palette, substituting the tiled roof with the manor red colorbond. With these paint palette colours, using the Ironstone or Basalt would work beautifully.
If you were swayed toward the blue/charcoals, then I would recommend colorbond classic Deep Ocean.
For the future installation of Solar panels, it may be aesthetically more pleasing to have the grey roof tones for a more seamlessly blended, less obvious contast of tradition versus technology.
Hope this has been useful!
Good luck! :)
montiadis thanked startreelandscape - 10 years ago
10 years agoI picked a galvanised colorbond roof for a workers cottage i rebuilt. I liked the silver look and was depending on it for minimal heat retention. One neighbour - a good friend - still mentioned that they were concerned at the likelihood of glare onto the street. This never became an issue. People didn't need to look away or anything because it was too bright, but it was interesting that they feared this would be the case and it created some small tension at the time.
montiadis thanked Luke Buckle- 10 years ago
9 years ago- 9 years ago
- 9 years ago
- 9 years ago
@girlguides,
Didn't realize that the roof looked almost like a zinc colour in thaty photo!!
I've attached another photo below that is a bit more true to colour.
Cheers,
Barbara
- 9 years agoThe pic is of our games room. I chose monument for the roof gutters and eaves, as it matched the tile roof of the main house. I specifically chose black trimed solar panels so they didn't look so obvious as the house is set higher on the block.
9 years ago
COLORBOND® steel