karenjc

We were told that we have a choice of what colours we want for our house and what brick work as well. We sort of know the ins and outs but are unsure about the roof tiles. I like the dark grey ones or the light blue version but some one told Karen that the dark colours can keep in the heat, but I'm sure with good insulation that should not be a problem. Does anyone have these darker tiles. Definitely do not want the orange tiles.

Centurion

We're doing a colorbond roof and not tiles but a friend of ours is a real estate agent who does say that dark roofs put some people off.

Physics also says that it absorbs more heat which is not a good thing. Australian insulation is not the same as the UK, ie in Queensland there isnt much at all!

We're playing safe and going lighter colours.

cresta57

Go with whatever colour you like and pay the builder an extra $300 bucks to fit you a couple of "whirly birds". They've made a huge difference to our in house temps.

karenjc

CHEERS

Ialibu

I wouldn't really go by what Real Estate agents say. I wont go on to defame them, they are quite capable of doing that to themselves. And in winter, light colours reflect the sunlight which means that the heat isn't absorbed.

I would say that Australian insulation is exactly the same as UK insulation. We both share the same sun and the same physics. There are large parts of Australia where the cold has to be kept out and the heat retained and for the other 6 months, its the opposite.

There's a bucket load of insulation south of Qld and I would say that Qld would do well with them lots of insulation, be it the "UK" or the "Australian" kind. I would be putting sisalcraft and batts in the walls and roof cavity, even in Qld.

cranni

From my own experience, go for what you want.
We rented for 12 months, tin roof [as i call them] and dont look nice, and when it rains and sounds bloody awful and i could not sleep.
We have built, black roof tiles , looks nice, does not make one bit of difference to the temp in the house, we have air con.
And the houses sell well round here and i would say roof tile houses go as quick as the tin roofs.
Anyway just my experience.

Beermonster

In my experience, insulation (particularly for an older property) is often an afterthought here (SE Qld).

My house is some 25 years old and we have just had it insulated and air conditioning installed. Before we had the insulation put in, there was perhaps a few scraps of fibre glass here and there, but not enough to make any difference

Before the insulation was installed, the ceiling temperature was often in excess of 35 deg, now its gown to maybe 28 (a hot ceiling will radiate heat down on you: its like having your central heating running in the middle of summer)

We also have a tin roof. With the insulation in place, you now hardly hear the rain unless it is absolutely bucketing down

New builds will have insulation installed, and I believe this is now required by pretty much each states building regulations

If anyone is interested, we had the "Cool or Cozy" stuff installed. This is made from recycled newspaper, treated to make it fire and pest retardent, and coated with essentially hair laquour to stop it blowing around in the roof space

Wol

Exactly. I believe Australia has been the second most wasteful country after the USA, and now that the laws of energy economics are beginning to be felt I do get a queasy feeling when I'm told that it's only *here* that they understand the importance of equator-facing rooms etc!

The new BASIX building regulations in NSW have some pretty batty (no pun intended) rules - quite a few of them have obviously been drawn up by committees without much real thought as to the whole energy picture, IMO. After all, they are applied to a house built on the QLD coastal border as well as in the Snowies. The example of the light/dark roof illustrates this - what is cooler in the summer in some places will be much colder in the winter when the snow lies deep and crisp and even. And there are many more examples.

Hilton`s

We have been told that our house could do with some insulation. It is a 4
bedroom lowset house, have you got any idea how much it would cost to get someone to install it?

Thanks.

Tracey x

BadgeIsBack

Tin roofs. You either get them or you don't.

Tiles absorb moisture and leak, and crack. Tin roofs properly installed and maintained are beautiful. It sounds grouse (sorry) when it rains.

I'd love to replace our cracked, dirty tile roof with tin, but Chief is also biased to the anti-tin solution, she thinks it looks cheap.

lesleys

And hailstones can break tiles all too easily, brings the ceiling down and makes a bit of a mess. We're getting tin and insulation.

Teliko21

We are getting colourbond for our roof as our builders were going to charge extra for tiling the verandah in the same way. Colourbond and tiles on the same house just looks weird to me.

It is growing on me though, I think Colourbond looks great if it is done properly. And apparently it lasts a lot longer than a tile roof and is more secure etc etc.

biggy

what colour r ur bricks?

biggy

the best colour to go for is teracotta like in Spain etc..............we have got that colour in our tiles and it is sooooooo coool in here and also cozy in winter.....in our rental we had colourbond roof........FFS it would melt u in summer and freeze the tits off u in winter....and whne it rained I didnt even attempt to answer the fone cos I couldnt hear people its shocking like livin in a caravan all over

A dogs life

Just to add a bit of personal experience... Make sure you see the actual colour on the tile, not just colour in the catalogue/brochure.

ADL