Rutland Architectural Blog

Wednesday, June 08, 2011

Buildings, including residential, commercial, public, and industrial consume about one third of all energy use and about two thirds of all the electricity generated. Demand for electricity in the U.S. is increasing three times faster than new power plants and lines are being built to accommodate this rapidly increasing demand. Heating and cooling costs dominate most building's energy usage. A building's roof can have the greatest impact on the energy consumption by a building so any technological advances and improvements in roofing energy efficiency and performance will greatly affect both energy usage and consequent cost savings. Energy efficiency, durability, performance, sustainability, recyclability and life cycle costs are the focus of green building. Architects, builders and consumers have been changing the way they select building materials and designing buildings. They are increasingly shifting their focus to green building materials and energy performance with so called cool roofs becoming a key focus. Cooling costs significantly affect a building's energy consumption in most parts of the country and cooling is the predominant cost in the southern states. Cool roofs can save up to 40% in cooling energy as reported by several studies including Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory Heat Island Group. Cool roofs essentially are roofs which reflect much of the sun's radiation away from a building, employ above sheathing ventilation (ASV) cooling under the roof, readily emit any heat which they do absorb back away from the building and cool quickly at night. The less solar radiation and heat entering a building's interior space through the building's roof, the lower the building's cooling costs and energy use will be.

Net Heat Flux Through Roof (courtesy coolmetalroofing.org)

Cool roofs or reflective roofs can be comprised of a variety of materials including asphalt or fiberglass shingles, clay or concrete tile, EDPM rubber or PVC roofing membrane and variety of metals as long as they can reflect away much of the sun's radiation and readily release any heat they absorb into the atmosphere. White and the more lightly colored roofing materials are the most reflective but different material composition as well as special designed and engineered coatings or paints used on them can also greatly affect reflectivity and emissivity. Some of these new coatings or paints, especially those applied to newer more advanced metal roofing, incorporate special pigments designed to provide higher reflectance of solar infrared and ultraviolet radiation. Infrared and ultraviolet radiation can contribute even more to absorbed heat energy from the sun than visible light so any type of roofing material incorporating these special reflective coatings may outperform conventional light colored materials without them. Even darker colored roofing which incorporates these special IR and UV reflective coatings will outperform older non treated darker colored roofing saving as much as 25% in cooling costs.

cool metal tile roofing shown having solar reflective coating cool roof and green roof energy saving properties

cool metal tile roofing shown having cool roof and green roof properties

Reflective Cool Metal Roofing Tile (courtesy coolmetalroofing.org)

Even with the advent of newer reflective coatings, white and light colored roofing still is the best performing cool roof providing the most energy and cost savings. Consumers, builders and architects however still like the aesthetics in having varied colors and materials and many still favor darker roofing hues. Ultra violet (UV) represents about 3% of the total solar energy striking the earth’s surface. Visible solar energy amounts to 40% while infrared (IR) energy accounts for the largest percentage 57% of the solar energy spectrum and is felt as heat. Thus roof materials which can be coated with newer UV and IR reflective coatings, even the darker shades of roof color, can now be much more energy efficient than in the past. Darker shades of roofing still won't reflect near as much of the visible solar radiation as lightly colored and white roofing. Though with engineered reflective coatings they will now block a high percentage of the UV and IR radiation which actually constitute more of the solar energy radiation and heat gain than visible solar energy. In addition to solar reflectivity, heat emissivity of roofing materials must also be considered as a large factor affecting building energy usage and possible contribution towards heat island effects. Any solar radiation which is not reflected by the roofing surface is then absorbed, converted or transferred to heat energy and some of this heat can conduct and radiate down into the interior building space affecting cooling costs. If the roof material has good emissivity much of this heat can re-radiate back to the sky in the form of IR energy especially cooling off during the night and there will consequently be less heat build up. Any concentrated heat build up, especially in tight grouped urban areas leads to heat island effects where temperatures in the air above these heat islands can be up to 12 degrees hotter than normal, leading to higher air conditioning costs, higher use of energy and higher levels of ozone and smog.

thermal image of Atlanta at night time showing warming heat island effects

Atlanta at Night Thermal (Blue=cool, green=lukewarm, red=warm, white=hot)

In addition to emphasizing high solar reflectance and emissivity properties, roofs can additionally be kept cooler, limiting or preventing heat gain or heat flux down into a building' interior space below, by promoting convection cooling underneath the roof material using above sheathing ventilation (ASV). Heat emanating from the underside of the roofing can be removed using convective air flow (balanced ventilation) moving from soffit vents or eaves up to and out a ventilating roof ridge cap. Testing at Oak Ridge National Laboratory showed that by employing the natural convection of heated air below the roof covering, temperatures in an attic space are reduced. Air enters at the eave, is heated by the roof, and because hot air rises, it is naturally drawn up and vents to the outside. This natural convection controls heat gain and reduces the temperature in the
attic below. The Oak Ridge National Laboratory study found that dark-colored metal-shingle roofs using above-sheathing ventilation had similar heat energy flows compared to their lighter cooler colored counterparts. About 30 percent of measured reduction in heat gain was contributed by ASV. When a cool reflective roof surface was used with ASV, an additional 15 percent reduction in heat gain was achieved for 45% total. The improved summer performance of cooler roofs coupled with the reduced heat losses during the winter show cool roofs can both reduce energy usage in summer months while negating any supposed heating penalty in cooler months or northern heating dominated climates.
* (see http://www.metalconstruction.org/pubs/pdf/ORNL-TM-2006-9.pdf)

A convective air space below the roofing material can be easily set up by using a batten, cross batten or metal purlin framework on top of roof sheathing or a roof deck, on which sturdy roofing panels can be attached. Less sturdy roofing material can employ a 1 1/2" metal roof deck or else just a purlin spaced layer of OSB below the existing roof sheathing. Even darker roof materials such as weathered bare copper which does not have a great solar reflectance index (SRI), can provide good to outstanding energy efficiency results with the use of either an underneath or above sheathing ventilation approach. Additionally winter or cold weather heating performance is improved with the use of below or above sheathing ventilation as that convection air space between the roof material and lower roof deck or sheathing further acts as an insulative layer and helps to prevent heat loss and condensation. Ventilated cooled roofs work great and are energy efficient in any climate. They tend to last much longer too with less heat degradation.

roof deck batten - cross batten construction framework shown on top of which cool roofing will be installed

Batten - Cross Batten Above Sheathing Ventilation (ASV)

roof structure cut out showing an energy saving cooling ventilated convection space positioned below the roof sheathing of a copper standing seam roof installation

ORNL Copper Roof Ventilation Test (images courtesy CDA at copper.org)
roof heat gain chart comparing different kinds of roofing including asphalt and cool metal roofing to a ventilated copper roof

roof heat gain chart comparing different kinds of roofing including asphalt and cool metal roofing to a ventilated copper roof

* These test results reflect using a 1½” fluted metal roof deck, ¾” OSB (plywood would work just as well), underlayment and red rosin paper underneath a standing seam copper roof. The use of a fluted metal roof deck is optional; similar results can be obtained by using other designs that provide an air space below the deck. The test roof had a 4/12 slope and faces south. The ventilated copper roof system was compared with a control roof of typical black asphalt, a typical non-ventilated copper roof assembly and two very good examples of above-the-sheathing, ventilated stone-coated steel roofs using special Cool Roof reflective coating colors. The graph above shows the ceiling heat flux crossing the attic floors of the respective attic assemblies. The light gray stone-coated cool metal roof (SR246E90) dropped the ceiling heat flux by roughly 29% of that measured for the asphalt shingle roof (SR093E89). The copper roof with the fluted metal deck further dropped peak ceiling heat flux an additional 23% of that for the coated steel shingle roof, bringing the total reduction for the copper roofing system to 50% of the asphalt control. Peak heat flux dropped an additional 1.5 Btu per hour per square foot for the copper roof as compared with the stone-coated metal roof. These results show clearly that a vented copper roof assembly will greatly reduce heat gain resulting in lower energy costs for the structure. Further, it dispels the notion that copper roofing must have high reflectance and emissivity in order to be effective in saving energy. * See Copper Roofs Are Cool

Cool roofs with their large energy saving and cost saving benefits can be realized by employing light colored roofing materials with very good solar reflective properties or roof materials using special engineered reflective coatings or most any type of roofing utilizing balanced and well functioning below or above sheathing ventilation (ASV). White or lightly colored highly solar reflective roofs employing ASV still provide the greatest energy and cost savings. It must also be stated that using higher R-values for ceiling insulation or better insulation below the roof in structures without attics will also control or limit heat gain into a building interior and consequently also lessens the heat gain differential using less reflective roofing materials or darker roof colors. Adding a radiant barrier and insulation board underneath your lower roof deck and convection space can further prevent the intrusion of heat gain from roofing into attic and living space. Additional attic vents, gable vents, dormer vents and roof vents will also reduce heat gain from roofing. More sloped roofs also perform much better and have less heat gain than flat or low sloped roofs and should be considered for any new construction. Some buildings with flat or low slope (<2:12) low-rise roofs may also be candidates for retrofitting them with a lightweight sloped roofing structure framework when re-roofing them especially with lighter weight roofing such as metal roofing. That framework could simultaneously also provide a convective roof cooling space underneath the new roofing. Resulting lower energy costs, less maintenance and no roof replacement for 50 years or longer could provide a good return on that investment. The bottom line is that when evaluating roofing energy efficiency, heating and cooling costs, looking only or primarily at roofing material properties such as SRI, reflectivity and emissivity is not sufficient to see the whole picture. You have to look at what effect the entire roofing system and structure has on heat gain, cooling load, heat loss and energy usage of the building and it's systems. The performance of the whole system must be examined in totality when the end goals are reducing energy costs and going still further, in achieving the most eco-friendly green buildings. In a subsequent blog article, the green building aspects of roofing will be discussed in more detail. Then again there are specialized roof systems such as KME's Tecu Solar System copper roofs below which are expressly designed as efficient solar heat collectors for heating a building's interior space, it's hot water and even swimming pool. Where do such technically advanced roofs fit into energy efficient roofing guidelines, requirements, ratings and green design certification?

copper roof integrated solar heating collection system shown in patinated green copper finish

Copper Solar System Roofs (photos courtesy KME.com - Italy)

copper roofing solar heating collector system for heating building and hot water system - shown in new raw copper finish

6/8/2011 8:55 AM Eastern Daylight Time

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Sunday, August 01, 2010

Roof Vent - Attic Ventilation - Gable Vent - Copper

Roof vents provide ventilation for the space underneath a roof. If an attic is present, roof vents, soffit vents and gable vents also provide attic ventilation. Roof ventilation and attic ventilation are necessary to help remove moisture in the air that may damage wood, insulation and other building materials underneath the roof, susceptible to damage or deterioration from moisture or condensation. The air conditioned living space underneath your roof or attic is usually at a much different temperature than the airspace underneath the roof or in the attic and can lead to condensation forming from humidity rising up from the living space below or especially in summer months from humid outside air. Winter attic ventilation must be sufficient to remove moisture vapor rising from the living space to the attic. In general, ventilation adequate for summer cooling is more than adequate for winter ventilation. Constant air movement or ventilation can help keep the building materials under a roof or in the attic dryer. In hot summer months, a cooler attic or space underneath your roof will also help keep trapped super heated air from pushing down into your living space and will promote more efficient cooling of your living space below. Attics or spaces under a roof can reach temperatures of 150 to 160 degrees F during a summer day, although outside air temperatures may only be 95 to 97 degrees F. The cooling load for a home air conditioning depends on the difference in temperature between the inside and outside air, and reduction of roof space or attic temperatures from 155 degrees to 105 degrees F will result in a significant reduction in cooling load. In a home with poor ceiling insulation, heat movement through ceilings may account for 30 percent or more of the total cooling cost. Heat movement through well insulated ceilings may still account for 12 to 15 percent of the total cooling cost. Roof shingles, roofing tile and other roof structure materials benefit from optimum roof ventilation, which can help prevent deterioration from this excess heat and lengthens the life of roofing. Natural cross ventilation for roofs is typically supplied with high mounted roof vents such as ridge vents or domed pot vents and low mounted roof edge vents or soffit vents, typically mounted in the overhangs (soffits or eaves) of a building. The cooler air enters through the low mounted soffit vents and exits through the high mounted roof vents, providing cross ventilation. Heated air becomes less dense and rises and wind movement around and over a home creates areas of high and low pressure. Natural cross ventilation utilizing this chimney effect and wind movement is the most common and energy efficient method of achieving lower attic temperatures and moisture control. Air powered turbine vents can provide increased ventilation over regular vents.

roof vent - domed pot vent shown in pure copper

Roof Vent - Copper Domed Pot Vent

turbine roof vent - copper roof vent turbine vent pictured

soffit vent - continuous soffit vent copper and square copper soffit vent with copper mesh shown here

Turbine Roof Vent - Copper Soffit Vents

A rough rule of thumb to figure out much roof ventilation is needed is to take the square footage underneath your roof and divide that by 300 (for new homes with good vapor barriers). That gives you the square footage of total ventilation opening or net free area required. About 60% of that total ventilation opening should be for low mounted roof vents or soffit vents and the other 40% for high mounted roof vents. For example say a home has dimensions of 40 feet by 75 feet and 3000 square feet of space under the roof. Divide 3000 by 300 to get 10 square feet of ventilation space or opening needed. 60% of that 10 square feet or 6 square feet should be low mounted or soffit vents and 40% or 4 square feet should be high mounted roof events. If there are no soffits or overhangs on a building then roof vents alone may be used but the recommended square footage of roof ventilation doubles. So in this example of a 40 foot by 75 foot, 3000 square foot building, 20 square feet of roof ventilation without soffit vents is suggested rather than 10 square feet with soffit vents. Older homes or those without good vapor barriers should use 150 (instead of 300) to divide into the total home square footage to get ventilation area. Local building codes specify the minimum attic ventilation requirements and while you should always at least meet building code requirements, a larger total roof ventilation area usually will provide even better performance.

dormer roof vent - arched roof dormer vent shown in pure copper

dormer roof vent - triangular roof dormer vent pyramidal shown in pure copper

Dormer Roof Vent - Arched and Triangular Copper

In addition to or otherwise in lieu of soffit vents, low mounted dormer roof vents may also be employed for their decorative touch and functional roof and attic venting.opening area required. Gable vents or attic vents such as the ones pictured below, whether they be round, octagonal, square, arched or triangular in shape also contribute to cross ventilation for roofs and attic spaces. A cupola mounted right at a roof's peak provides excellent roof and attic ventilation while also providing visual appeal and architectural interest. Roof dormers can be one piece metal dormers with flashing and louvers such as the copper roof dormers shown above or can be custom built dormers such as the one below. These roof dormers typically have a louvered vent opening similar to gable vents or wall vents and contribute to and provide some of the roof and attic ventilation

dormer roof vent - custom roof dormer vent with copper panel roof and copper louver vent shown here

Dormer with Copper Vent and Copper Panel Roof

attic vent - round gable vent shown in pure copper

gable vent - octagonal attic vent shown in pure copper

Attic Vent - Gable Vent - Copper Round and Octagonal

cupola - roof cupola- octagonal copper cupola with 8 sides pictured

cupola - copper cupola - roof cupola with 4 sides and copper finial shown here

Cupola Roof Vents - Octagonal and Square Copper

Rutland supplies a large assortment of metal roof vents, attic vents, gable vents and soffit vents. These roof and attic vents are available in elegant, durable, eco-friendly pure copper or other metals such as aluminum and paint-grip steel. Rutland carries many in stock standard sizes and also offers custom designs and custom sizes to meet project specifications. Dormer roof vents for roof ventilation with integral flashing are available in any size and cupolas which may be used for roof and attic venting are available in both standard and custom sizes with mounted finials and weathervanes available as a cupola option.

8/1/2010 3:50 PM Eastern Daylight Time

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Friday, February 05, 2010

Horse Barn Cupola Construction

Cupolas are a very popular architectural enhancement on top of horse barn roofs and riding arenas. Roof top cupolas are also popular features on homes, gazebos, pavillions, public buildings and businesses. A cupola may be built to be accessible from the inside and thereby provide a lofty perch for viewing pleasure of the surrounding area. Often such cupolas are encircled by a widows walk or roof deck railing. Usually cupolas are chosen for their heightened architectural interest and also to provide substantial ventilation to the roof, attic or building space below. Cupolas may be built in various shapes including circular, square, hexagonal and octagonal. Cupolas typically have a curved conical, bell-shaped or pyramidal domed roof and are often crowned with a ornamental roof finial perched at the very top. Cupolas may be constructed from a variety of materials with wood and metals being the most common. Among metals, rust-free aluminum and copper are the preferred material. Aluminum makes for a generally light weight, manageable cupola design and the aluminum is usually painted to color coordinate with the underlying building's wall and trim colors. Copper cupolas are most always left uncoated and provide the most elegant and distinguished appearance, weather beautifully, are the most maintenance-free, eco-friendly green choice, most durable and longest lasting of all cupolas. Cupolas provide a pleasing, very attractive elegance to any building while cupola ventilation serves as an excellent roof vent.

Rutland's architectural craftsmen hand made several custom large cupolas designed for a massive horse barn riding arena. Structural .063 aluminum was used, with large aluminum louvers in the four walls, a swooping bell-shaped pyramidal domed roof and topped with a finial ball and spiked cone. All joints or seams were TIG welded and polished, which provides the most strength, durability and refined, pleasing appearance. One very large cupola would perch in the center of the horse barn arena's expansive roof line and two slightly smaller cupolas would sit to either side of the larger one. The cupolas would help break up the roof line, provide a high degree of architectural interest and attractiveness and supply substantial ventilation of the underlying roof space. The cupola sides were painted a bay brown to coordinate with the stained wood walls of the riding arena and adjacent horse barns. The cupola's roof was painted hunter green to match the green metal roof on the horse barns. Below are pictures showing the progression of the cupola construction from structural framing to final installation shots on top the horse barn.

cupola TIG welded structural aluminum frame shown here during cupola construction
Cupola Structural Aluminum TIG Welded Frame - Polished Seams

cupola has large louver vents installed for roof or attic ventilation
Large Aluminum Louvers are Inserted Into Cupola Sides

cupola domed roof and roof finial are attached to finish cupola design
Domed Roof and Roof Finial Attached On Top of Cupola

aluminum cupolas finshed in two tone paint job pictured here
Cupolas Finished in Two-Tone Paint Job

roof cupola perched on top of metal horse barn roof shown
Cupolas Are Installed Top of Horse Barn Arena

horse barn cupola installed on metal horse barn roof in picture
Horse Barn Cupola Construction Project Completed

Obtain more information on roof top aluminum cupola designs and copper cupolas at Rutland Architectural Cupolas.

2/5/2010 11:42 AM Eastern Standard Time

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Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Gutter Hangers - Focus on Gutter Brackets

Rutland Gutter Supply is family owned and operated. Their manufacturing facility is located in beautiful Orlando, Florida. They have over 40 years of experience in the construction and sheet metal fabrication business. Rutland operates some of the most modern CNC machinery available, from computerized roll forming machines to a fully automated 4" round seamless, welded pipe machine. They have many customers globally and have installed copper gutters and architectural copperwork spanning Florida and the Caribbean. Rutland Gutter Supply’s products are marketed and sold throughout the United States, Canada and Internationally.

Rutland’s products can be fabricated in Mill Finish Aluminum, Zinc, Lead Coated Copper, Stainless Steel, Copper, Galvanized Steel and Galvalume. They stock the largest selection of custom gutter supply components including decorative hangers, decorative brackets and pipe straps, flat and radius end caps, box mitres, elbows, rain chains, copper pipe and custom leader heads with copper castings.

Rutland’s latest line of products include fully welded, hand made 48 oz custom kitchen hoods, island range hoods, fireplace hoods and copper billiard hoods, most incorporating hand finished designs. Rutland is able to hand craft any view or scene of your choice into them as these are truly custom design hoods. Additional items available for your copper kitchen are copper pot racks, copper bowl, copper sink, copper basin, hammered copper range hoods and copper fireplace hoods. All Rutland's copper hoods and sinks are available as custom copper hammered designs created by artisans who can create the truly personal design touch for your "copper kitchen".

Rutland also fabricates both stock and custom copper chimney caps, copper cupolas, copper stove pipe and roof vents, copper gable vents, copper dormers, copper roof tiles, copper seam roofs, copper dome roofs, copper chimney turbines, copper roof scuppers or rain spouts, copper finials, copper spires, copper steeples, copper balustrades, copper pineapples, copper balls, copper spheres, copper dock lights, copper fish elbow downspouts and copper dragons, etc. Virtually every architectural copper work and metal fabrication has been or can be accomplished by Rutland.

Gutter Hangers, Gutter Hangers, Gutter Hangers . .

Rutland stocks the largest selection of gutter hangers in the country. Rutland offers decorative gutter hangers such as their seahorse, rope, scroll, combo and acanthus gutter hangers available in cast copper and also in powder coated finished or mill finish cast aluminum. They are designed to fit Rutland’s seamless gutters ranging in half round gutter sizes from 5” to 10”. Various size wedges from 1” to 2.5” are available in both cast copper and aluminum to properly align the gutter system to various fascia angles.

Rutland also stocks many different types of stamped and hidden gutter hangers, all available in a wide selection of materials and sizes. Hidden hangers are available for half round, K-style, quarter round and box gutters in a wide variety of sizes and materials including copper, aluminum and stainless steel. Rutland also stocks many roof mounted, rafter tail mounted and fascia mounted gutter hangers for both half round and K-style gutters including copper, aluminum and stainless steel. Many different sizes of these are stocked by Rutland Gutter Supply and scroll design hangers are available for fascia, roof and rafter mounting.

Rutland Gutter Supply’s superior selection of in stock gutter system parts, components or accessories is immense and unmatched in the U.S. Rutland offers next day shipping on most of Rutland’s gutter supplies as virtually all gutter system components are in stock. In addition to having the largest selection of gutter hangers, Rutland has the largest selection of decorative downspout pipe straps, available in cast copper and aluminum, as well as custom and standard pipe straps. Rutland’s selection of leader heads (else known as conductor heads-collector heads-hopper heads) is again the largest in the U.S.A and most of them are in stock and available with or without one of Rutland’s custom decorative castings incorporated. Rutland strives to have the largest selection on hand for same day shipping. Rutland also encourages it’s customers to submit custom requests as Rutland has extensive custom fabrication experience and Rutland’s facilities and operations are conducive to custom metal work.