"Hax Planx" wrote in message
.net...

Snip
I was thinking along the lines of maybe using a reflective
coating for the roof or tacking down tarps to cut down on the heat
absorbing properties of the black shingles. Does this sound practical
at all?

Well I am going to differ from David's view. I live in Houston. Last
year I built a storage room in my back yard with no insulation. I used
Radiant barrier decking for the roof and went with 30# felt and a premium
asphalt shingle on top of that.
The room stays closed up all day long and the inside temperature never feels
higher than the out side temperature. 2 weeks ago I painted the out side a
medium brown color and the inside temperature rose slightly.
While it may not be feasible to re roof your building and put down radiant
barrier decking there is radiant barrier paint that can be sprayed up on the
bottom of the roof. They may help and be relatively inexpensive.
Keep in mind also that insulation does not warm or cool a building it simply
slows the temperature movement going from a warmer area to a cooler area.
If the building does not cool down at night insulation is probably not going
to help. IMHO the trick here is to reflect the heat with the proper
materials.

Oddly the radiant barrier products face towards the inside of the building.
the metallic surface on the decking faced down and the radiant barrier paint
is applied on the same surface facing down.