On Sat, 26 May 2012 17:00:27 -0700, Oren wrote:

On Sat, 26 May 2012 14:40:40 -0700 (PDT), bob haller
wrote:

my dad and family live in phoenix where the vast majority of shingles
are white for less attic heat and longer shingle life

Are these old homes? I've not yet seen a shingle roof in Phoenix. In
my travels through the town I see tile roofs. Some flat roofs may be
white? Back in the day, Las Vegas residents used white quartzes rock
on a roof to reflect the heat.


I believe when I was a youngster, my dad put a white shingled roof on
our house and as I recall, we were the only one or two in a large
subdivision with a white shingled roof. This was on Long Island, NY.
I don't recall them ever talking about the electric bill but I was
probably too young to care. My personal thought is that a white
shingle roof is probably minimally beneficial because since I've lived
in Texas and traveling around Houston and Austin, I don't recall
seeing any white shingled roofs. I would think with the heat we get
for many months a year, if it were really beneficial, they would have
a lot more of them around here. So my conclusion is that my father
(a builder then) and the homes I see now, do it for cosmetics more
than anything else.