I have add on to my house that is similar to a sun room. I would like
to keep it cooler since it is open to the living room and kitchen. It
has a shallow roof just big enough for r 19 insulation. What I would
like to do is build a second roof on top of the original and about 12
inches high for air flow. I may combine it with a radient barrier.

Has anyone out there done this before? Could I make it with some sort
of removable (for winters) awning material or build it strong with
wood and shingle. I am worried about the second roofs load on the sun
room room.

For the record I live in Austin TX

STOMPS wrote:
I have add on to my house that is similar to a sun room. I would like
to keep it cooler since it is open to the living room and kitchen. It
has a shallow roof just big enough for r 19 insulation. What I would
like to do is build a second roof on top of the original and about 12
inches high for air flow. I may combine it with a radient barrier.

Has anyone out there done this before? Could I make it with some sort
of removable (for winters) awning material or build it strong with
wood and shingle. I am worried about the second roofs load on the sun
room room.

For the record I live in Austin TX

Off the top of my head, I would suggest reflective or very light colored
metal slats with space between each one to allow free air flow mounted just
a few inches above the existing roof.

--
Joseph Meehan

Dia 's Muire duit

on 8/8/2007 11:04 PM STOMPS said the following:
I have add on to my house that is similar to a sun room. I would like
to keep it cooler since it is open to the living room and kitchen. It
has a shallow roof just big enough for r 19 insulation. What I would
like to do is build a second roof on top of the original and about 12
inches high for air flow. I may combine it with a radient barrier.

Has anyone out there done this before? Could I make it with some sort
of removable (for winters) awning material or build it strong with
wood and shingle. I am worried about the second roofs load on the sun
room room.

For the record I live in Austin TX

You could do that but you would have to leave the ridge area open or
install a ridge vent on your new roof so the hot air between your new
roof and old can escape. I think 12" is a little overkill, though. What
color is the roof now?
I have a 4 Seasons room on the back of the house that gets sun all
afternoon. When it was built, I made the mistake of matching the shingle
color to the existing house roof, which was black. It was too hot in the
sunroom in summer, sometimes 10º F more than the outside temp, even with
all windows open and ceiling fans going. Leaving all the windows closed,
most times resulted in a 20º greater temp difference.
I figured I would go for a lighter shingle color, but wanted to test
whether it would make a difference before I spent all that money, so I
bought some Henry's asphalt roof coating in White ($35 for 5 gallons at
HD). I painted the roof with it and the difference was astounding. Now
the interior temp never gets above the outside temp with the windows
open. If I leave the french doors open between the CAC house and
sunroom, the temp inside is about 10º cooler than outside.

--

Bill
In Hamptonburgh, NY
To email, remove the double zeroes after @

On Thu, 09 Aug 2007 14:26:48 -0400, wrote:

On Wed, 08 Aug 2007 20:04:34 -0700, STOMPS
wrote:

I have add on to my house that is similar to a sun room. I would like
to keep it cooler since it is open to the living room and kitchen. It
has a shallow roof just big enough for r 19 insulation. What I would
like to do is build a second roof on top of the original and about 12
inches high for air flow. I may combine it with a radient barrier.

Has anyone out there done this before? Could I make it with some sort
of removable (for winters) awning material or build it strong with
wood and shingle. I am worried about the second roofs load on the sun
room room.

For the record I live in Austin TX

This is very common in Florida. It is called a "roof over".
There is an aluminum pan roof product for doing this with 3" of
styrofoam between the top and bottom sections.
It knocked about 15 degrees off the peak heat in my sunroom.
I think Home Depot sells it but usually the contractors and aluminum
dealers make the retail price, just about what the wholesale price
plus installation, is.

Ever since I had my sunroom added over 10 years ago, the structural
insulated panels on the roof pop like crazy when it gets warm.
I wonder how something like that roof over would work on there.
I've tried every thing else I can think of.

It is called a cold roof. It is a fairly normal thing to do in a
cold climate to create a thermal barrier. They should provide a
similar dead air insulator for heat load.

Here is some reading;
http://en.allexperts.com/q/Architect...-Cold-Roof.htm

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q...=Google+Search

--
______________________________
Keep the whole world singing . . . .
DanG (remove the sevens)




"STOMPS" wrote in message
ups.com...
I have add on to my house that is similar to a sun room. I would
like
to keep it cooler since it is open to the living room and
kitchen. It
has a shallow roof just big enough for r 19 insulation. What I
would
like to do is build a second roof on top of the original and
about 12
inches high for air flow. I may combine it with a radient
barrier.

Has anyone out there done this before? Could I make it with some
sort
of removable (for winters) awning material or build it strong
with
wood and shingle. I am worried about the second roofs load on
the sun
room room.

For the record I live in Austin TX