Hax Planx wrote:
My ancient detached shop/garage has an uninsulated roof and now that
temps are parked in the 90's with full sunshine most days, the heat
radiating from the roof turns it into an oven. Things inside (like
projects) get warm to the touch and the ambient temperature soars to
about 105°(40.6°C). I've had to move all glues and solvents and
anything else that might be temperature sensitive into the house. As
you can imagine, it makes things like brushing shellac difficult. Any
ideas for a cheap remedy just for the radiating heat problem? I know I
could insulate the roof, but that isn't the direction I want to go with
this space. Before winter sets in, I want to frame about half of the
inside of the building into a room for the wood shop and insulate that,
but I didn't want to do it now. The building is about a 1000 sq/ft and
the roof is over 12' high at the peak, so that isn't very practical
anyway. 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?
Here's a couple of things that I have done to cool my shed. It's 40' x
20' approx. tin with a concrete floor. The temperature here in
Kalgoorlie is usually above 30c in summer and it is not uncommon to have
more than a few 45c days.
Currently it's between 0 and 20c= bloody cold
1. Installed a whirlybird fan in the roof.
2. Hung shade cloth over the metal roller door.
3. Purchased 16mm chipboard cover sheets, about $10.00 each when they
are available and lined the inside walls with pink bats between. I
just started with the North wall and as material and money, became
available continued on.
4. Started insulating the roof. Once again using 3-6mm cover sheets
with bats. Also had some 2" styrene which worked wonders. As the roof
is not completed you can certainly tell the difference when standing
under a lined section to a corrugated iron section.
5. Placed an evaporative air conditioner in the wall, a freebie. It
does it's job as we have a very dry heat.
6. Made awnings for the windows.
As each of the above jobs took place a noticeable difference was made.
A method I have seen done and am assured is rather effective is to cover
the roof with shade cloth, with 6" spacers to hold it of the steel.
Painting the roof white should not be rejected either. this can produce
anything up to a 8c difference in temperature.
Hope this will help some.
As with all things money and time usually rule the day

regards
John