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Paint over asphalt shingles?

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DRIFT-O-MATIC

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Discussion starter · #1 ·
I must admit I'm a little out of my comfort zone, here. I am a retired cabinetmaker. And I know very little about roofing. But I'm hoping there are some people on this forum that might be able to answer some questions I have about my asphalt shingle roof on my house in Florida.

The charcoal-colored shingles are about 10 years old, and have not yet failed. I was wondering if there is a product in existence that can be painted over the top of the shingle roof that I could change the dark (hot) color to a lighter (cool) color. I notice that the paint that is applied to asphalt roadways for divider lines, etc. seems to last pretty well. Why couldn't that be used? Would this extend the life of the shingles, maybe? I even thought about sandwiching some of that septic drain field filter cloth between coats of the thick paint, to give it more dimensional stability. I may be totally out in left field on this subject, but thought I'd post it anyway, to get some professional opinions. Because of my financial limitations, I'm trying to prolong the life of my roof as much as possible, as well as reflect some of this blazing Florida sun. Thanks for your help.
 
#2 ·
There are several products out there. Roof-it is one. It is a brushed on product that hardens. I have never used it or seen it on a roof.

Other than that, you can use pretty much any exterior latex or oil based paint. I would thin it a bit and spray it on.
 
#3 ·
any elastomeric roof coating should work fine. Of course it would be bright white unless you could get a paint store to tint it. Maybe buy it at HD or Lowes and have their paint department tint it.
 
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Discussion starter · #6 ·
Thanks, guys. I'm getting the feeling that completely sealing up the shingles would be a bad idea, because it might not be able to breath, and mold and rot would result. However, if I'm careful not to do this, and just put a coating of white paint on the top surface of the shingles, it may work for me. Another thing I'm thinking about is just painting the roof on the back side of the house, which has a simple hip roof. The back side is the south-facing and hottest side, and is not visible from the street. And there are no houses in the back. My thought is that the hottest side of the roof will degrade first. So painting it pure white should prolong its life, as well as help with my cooling bill. What do you think?
 
Discussion starter · #9 ·
ohiohomedoctor said:
Rain axe roof sealer. It's great stuff. Relatively new, but great results so far.
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Hello Matt, I am originally from Dayton, Ohio. I taught at Colonel White High School, and Five Points Jr. High in Fairborn. I went to Belmont H.S.

Thanks for the suggestion of the Rain Axe. Does it come in white or other colors? Or is it just a clear sealer?
 
#10 ·
I'd like to to the same with my asbestos tile roof...it's probably 40 years old, and is growing lichen. :rolleyes: Anything I put on it will probably fall off when the lichen dies. It's holding up, but it's still very dark and I'm not looking forward to demoing it. I've been told I can't power wash it. Any thoughts?

Re: Sun gain: I put some sycamores in around the house to block the sun. It's a short house, I planted them last year and already they are HUGE! Such a difference. Won't help with the roof deterioration tho...
 
#11 ·
jmiller said:
Ahh. Because it's 'exterior' paint. Thanks.
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Needed to be said, so some smart ass painter didn't point out I didn't mention it needed to be exterior. But instead I got a smart ass roofer. You can never win on CT. :no:
 
#14 ·
DRIFT-O-MATIC said:
....... I notice that the paint that is applied to asphalt roadways for divider lines, etc. seems to last pretty well. Why couldn't that be used? Would this extend the life of the shingles, maybe?........... .
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Road paint might be as good a formulation as any if you could apply it just to gain some reflectivity. The shingle itself would not likely benefit and might actually age more quickly if the paint was to act as a water trap where liquid water could linger between the paint and the shingle itself.

Remember that coatings and membranes are resistive to liquid water migration. If a coating or membrane has a crack or a failure point where liquid can enter, this liquid will have a difficult time getting out from under the coating. The water under the coating can accelerate roof deterioration and possibly cause other damage.


Coatings don't typically extend the life of the shingle. The coating adds a protective layer which wears out. In effect it has taken on some of the weathering for the shingle. Might sound like splitting hairs, but coatings cost money, thereby adding coast to the roof system as a whole.

There are a couple of directions you might further investigate.....

There are reflective radiant barriers that can be applied in your attic space to reflect back toward the roof. The possibility of benefit from this depends upon your attic configuration.

There are roof systems of spray applied foam and poly urea coatings that have insulative and reflective properties. The possibility this type of system is appropriate would depend on your roof layout.
 
#16 ·
Drift - yes you can as we used to do it in Tucson. The same products used for flat roofs can generally be used for shingles or rolled roofing. It generally takes 2 or 3 people, one rolling out the base coat while another rolls out a layer of fiberglass mesh and embeds it into the base coat (or second coat depending on instructions). The final coat or two is then applied over that.

The cost though is pretty close to simply redoing the roof with ENERGY STAR or similar shingles, though I would say the system will perform better at reflecting radiant heat. As Latone states, it still requires maintenance & should not be done if the roof is wet.

As for interior radiant barriers, while they do work (somewhat) - having it inside the structure is not as good on the outside and it will loose effectiveness over time.

As long as the coating is maintained, you shouldn't have to worry about ever replacing the shingles unless you have some major issues.

Miss Brown - oh you can power wash it, but you could be spraying asbestos fibers everywhere - fortunately they would be trapped in the water initially, but afterwards... Light bleach concoction with a deck brush is the way to go, unless the shingles are damaged (friable) and then you are better off removing them.

Bam - maybe, maybe not - a lot depends on the house, issues they are trying to address, etc... In some cases the payback maybe within a year or five, while in other cases they might not see any benefits as there are no air handlers up there, the attic was done right & it has enough insulation in it to handle the normal attic temps
 
#17 ·
Tinstaafl said:
Perhaps if you get it through your head that we're not here to "win", you may do so. Just sayin'... :whistling
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Perhaps if you took "win", not as a need to win, but as the metaphor "to ensure one's bases were covered", maybe you would understand that you don't have to continue to single me out. Just sayin'...:thumbsup:
 
#18 ·
Discussion starter · #19 ·
Well, I've got some really good input on my query. I should add that there is an air handler in the attic and blown-in fiberglass insulation between the 2x4 bottom chords of the roof trusses (which is not very much R-Value). There is no insulation under the roof decking, and would be very difficult to do, with all the obstacles up there. This is why I thought painting the shingles white would help deflect some of the sun's rays, and cool it down a bit. But, now I'm seeing that it may not be cost effective to do so, and should maybe just wait until I need to re-shingle the roof, when it finally fails.....I don't know.
 
#20 ·
BamBamm5144 said:
http://www.gaf.com/Roofing/Resident...Shingles/Timberline/Timberline-Cool-Series/Timberline-Cool-Series-Shingles.aspx

From GAF. This is even with their "cool" shingles that cost me about 50 a square more to purchase.

I think all this Green crap when it comes to construction needs to end. It should have been realized when CertainTeed tried to make an Organic shingle.
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bam bam- I might be wrong here but you might want to research this statement- i believe "organic" shingles have nothing to do with "green"-and organic shingles predate the "green" wave by many decades-that is "organic" simply meant a cellulose mat and began to be designated as such when fiberglass mat entered the market place

If i recall correctly you are a young guy and likely have pretty much only known fiberglass asphalt shingles- but it wasn't all that long ago that almost all shingles were "organic"

best wishes,
stephen
 
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DRIFT-O-MATIC
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