Tarping your roof

[Qyöt27]

Has anyone ever done this to reduce their electric bill? Specifically, a white or similarly light-colored tarp to reflect sunlight and keep the interior of the house cool, requiring less energy to run the air conditioner, etc.

Our air conditioner is in dire need of servicing or replacement (as is needing to replace our insulation in the very small attic space we have), but we just don't have the money to do that - toward the end of the afternoon and even up until practically midnight or past, the temperature inside the house is in the 80-83°F (26.6-28.3°C) range. At its worst it approaches 84°F (28.8°C) when we have to fix dinner, due to using the oven. Not even using fans helps on most days. This is all with the thermostat set to 78°F (25.5°C) too.

A tarp solution might be able to lessen the pain some, and it's a lot cheaper than getting the air conditioner fixed or replaced. And whenever we do get the air conditioner properly serviced, it would still have the possible benefit of cutting down on the electrical cost (which is what the current air conditioner has an issue with - because it gets so hot inside the house, it consumes more and more electricity, and it actually has problems because of the strain on such an old unit pulling more and more power). Anything to save electricity is a good idea, IMO.

I wanted to know if anyone has done this so I might be aware of just how effective I could expect it to be, both for cutting electricity costs and for maintaining lower temperatures. I'm not too convinced at all of the marketing claims that it could cut the bill by 30% (which would be pretty significant in our case) or that it could radically cool the house down, which is why I want to hear more about personal experiences with the tactic.

 

[Tamara224]

I'd be interested to hear that, too.

We don't have air conditioning. We leave the windows open from sundown to sunup with fans to circulate the air, then close the house during the day. This works pretty well. By 6pm it can get warm and stuffy in the house but we keep most of the heat out that way. If there is a way to help keep the house cooler, well, that would be cool.

I'm not sure my neighbors would be all that pleased with the new aesthetic, though.

 

[HazelWings]

I haven't even heard of this. We've put plastic over our old windows and that really DOES help with conserving heat in the winter. I don't know if it's something I would want to try, tarping a roof, but it's an interesting thought.

 

[trentlogain2]

..sounds like a good way to make the authorities suspect you're growing marijuana or something in your house.

 

[Sophrosyne]

Probably not going to make a huge difference. We have it 84 in the house here almost daily now with it being constantly in the 100s almost every day as long as the humidity isn't high a fan works fine till the sun starts going down. I would check the attic and see if there is an exhaust fan it would probably do just as much for the heat as putting a tarp over the roof.

 

[SnowyMacie]

I have never tarped a roof for electric bill saving purposes, but have to as a temporary fix to shingles after a hurricane. It really won't do anything other than just putting a piece of plastic on top of your roof. Opening windows (if you have screens) is a good temporary fix.