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 MoreKitchen re design advice needed please
Comments (49)thank you for your advise. I have put images of the outside of the house as that where the dining room is from there we will be bringing the decking out 3 metres which will create an out - indoor eating. this is the most finished room giving you an idea of the colour and house. all blue grey tones. sorry about stuff around but a reno house is hard to find spaces below is kitchen as is looking out to the dining through that open servery but we are taking most of that wall out to make an open space - its very small step down below into the dining through the left door way. below is the now dining. the table is very small and hard to pull chairs in and out of hence the indoor out door considerations. belwo is the outdoor looking in. from those doors we are putting a 3 metre decking i think. we have a lot of yard so its easy to do...See MoreHow do we bring natural light into a dark 1960s house?
Comments (37)m_walker5, just from the 2 photos so far it seems to me the main first improvement to that space would be to remove the wall to the kitchen, so you need to find out if this is loadbearing or not. Stick your head up through the ceiling manhole to see how the structure is framed. If it is fully framed (rafters, ceiling joists, struts bearing down on internal walls) chances are that that wall is loadbearing. On the other hand if it is gangnail trusses (triangular frames with W braces held together with metal nail-plates) you are in luck. These typically span between outside walls and internal walls can usually be changed or removed easily. This is your staring point for deciding how far you want to go with this depending on budget, and is the point where you should involve an architect/designer to work out a comprehensive renovation plan. I have just completed a very similar project where the renovation was urgent (kitchen cabinets were falling off the walls!) but the budget was greatly reduced as the owner unexpectedly lost one source of income. We managed to do a full kitchen renovation, remove walls to create larger open-plan spaces, full re-sand and polish of floors, full internal repaint, all for about $80,000....See MoreLiving with a dark Colourbond roof
Comments (3)We built two houses, similar sizes, same orientation- one with colorbond dune roof and one with colorbond basalt. They had exactly the same insulation and the dune roof house was noticeably cooler. This time we’ve gone lighter again, our new house is colorbond surfmist. We’re near Newcastle NSW....See More
8 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
8 years ago- 8 years agolast modified: 8 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 - 8 years ago
8 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- 8 years ago
8 years ago- 8 years ago
- 8 years ago
- 8 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
- 8 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.
7 years ago
COLORBOND® steel