Black Tile Affair

The northern approach to Bundaberg takes my Dash 8 flight over a couple of new blocks which have been subdivided for housing - low set, tile roofed, concrete boxes for the most part. It's not my preferred housing style but what I find particularly stupid in this day and age and even more so in hot sunny Bundaberg  is the preponderance of people opting for black tile roof coverings. Yes it looks very modern and trendy but from an environmental standpoint it's just plain dumb.

When we reroofed our place a couple of years ago we deliberately went with silver coloured Zincalume from the Colorbond range because of the high roof albedo and energy saving consequences. So, while many of us are doing our own little bit to reduce global warming these black tile wallies are maximising their roof space temperature, increasing their cooling costs and heating up the atmosphere.

Comments

[Ian]

Methinks someone has nicked an apostrophe, ol' son :-))

6'9" should pretty well round it out; funny how ya remember things... I have had .3048 seared in my brain since 1966!!

[Ian]

Ooops, 'scuse double post... good start eh!!

I'm blaming it on the "robot test" :-)

[IanH]

No problem, Ian. Welcome !

[Louisa Sheedy]

Great decision on removing your tile roof and replacing it with modern materials. Tiles are pretty, but they can be also troublesome. They are difficult to paint and clean and, because of their weight, they can also be dangerous in earthquakes.

[Lino Kosters]

Indeed. Going for cool roofing with the use of lighter colors to reflect the heat away is a good idea. It's not black, but you can still be modern and stylish with lighter-colored roof tiles.