White roof plus vents equals one cool attic (practical advice Q&A)

[jpak]

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/business/15307857.htm

• Q: We have turbines on our roof, which is about to be replaced with white concrete tiles. The roof has gable ends, and we're getting conflicting information about whether we should stick to turbines, replace them with a ridge vent or install fans on the gable ends. We're most concerned about protecting the roof in a hurricane, but we don't want excessive heat buildup, either.

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• A: For answers, we turned to Danny Parker, principal research scientist at the University of Central Florida's Solar Energy Center. If you have a white roof, you really don't need much venting since heat buildup is significantly reduced, he said in an e-mail.

As long as you have standard soffit vents, which are essential, he recommends you abandon turbines since they're prone to blowing off during hurricanes and easily admit wind-driven rain. You could install ridge vents or even have no additional venting.

''The attic will be very cool because of the big advantages for white tile and white metal roofs in terms of heat buildup,'' Parker said. With only soffit vents, your risk of wind driven rain entering the attic is also considerably reduced.

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[jpak]

1. and more advice...

http://www.theledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060819/NEWS/608190459/1001/BUSINESS

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Q. I have read a lot about energyefficient windows and other features, but have never seen anything about doors and how they affect energy usage. You know anything about this?

A. Older exterior doors might not fit or insulate as well as newer ones, so you ought to consider replacing older doors to help lower your energy costs. One excellent type of door, for example, is one with a steel skin with a polyurethane foam insulation core. It comes with its own magnetic strip that acts as effective weatherstripping.

Steel and fiberglass-clad entry doors typically have R-values of around R-5 or R-6. Note, though, that adding windows have a great effect -- a 11/2-inch thick door without windows in it will give more than five times the insulating value of a solid wood door of the same size with a window. This is a good example of the aesthetics vs. energy savings debate that often goes on in homes. My advice is to use a window in your exterior doors if you really want one, but to be aware of its impact on energy use and take other steps to offset this loss in insulating value.

Glass doors, on the other hand, especially the sliding patio type, lose heat quickly. If you have sliding glass doors that you'd like to make more efficient, consider replacing them with those with better glass such as low-emissivity coatings or low-conductivity gases between the panes.

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[msongs]

2. thanks for posting - we are gonna replace our glass sliders in

october. currently they are single pane and big. so we got some bids for double pane more efficient. cost per set =$800 and including installation per set = $1600. kinda pricey for a job I could do myself, it is actually rather easy. However, if the installers do it and the doors are out of plumb & square etc they will have to fix it :-) and they will come do the job and get it over with in a day.

Msongs
www.myspace.com/msongs

[formactv]

3. I f you want to see an extreme effort

www.sover.net/~triorbtl/ Sphere Cottage