Steelscape DesignScape live
Speaker 1:
Hi and welcome back to another episode of Designscape Live, a series of short educational videos on pre-painted metal. So all colors perform the same, right? No, not at all. In today's episode, we'll be exploring important color attributes to evaluate when selecting your next metal roof. We'll be covering three important metrics commonly published by organizations such as Steelscape and Metal Roof Manufacturers. The three areas we will cover include the solar reflectance index, gloss, and light reflectance value.

Speaker 1:
The solar reflectance index or SRI denotes the amount of solar heat a roof can reject. This is important as the more heat that is rejected, the less it is transferred to the structure, thus reducing building cooling costs and energy bills. For SRI, the higher the value, the greater the reflectance. This is expressed as a range from zero to 100. The solar reflectance index is a consolidation of the value for solar reflectance, the amount of solar radiation reflected off the surface and emissivity, the amount of heat a surface can dissipate away from itself. Lighter colors are more efficient than darker colors at doing this. However, metal paint systems have developed to include cool pigment technology. Specially designed color pigments that improve the reflection of solar heat. This means you can have a cool roof in a desirable color. Also worth noting is that some green building standards such as lead, the common benchmark for sustainable building design mandate minimum SRI values to reduce the heat island effect.

Speaker 1:
Gloss and sheen are two other terms used to describe visible reflection from a surface. Gloss is a measurement of visible light at a 60 degree angle from the surface. Sheen is measured at 85 degrees. High gloss or sheen can result in a high shine from a surface. While low gloss or sheen surfaces have a flat or matte appearance. The shine from a surface may impact the way the building integrates with its broader environment and other structures.

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Low gloss values may also be required by things such as HOA provisions. While metal traditionally has a higher gloss than other materials, it can be ordered in matte and low gloss options if this is an area of concern.

Speaker 1:
Light reflectance value often referred to as glare, measures the amount of visible or usable light that reflects from a surface. LRV is expressed as a range from zero to a hundred. The higher the number, the more visible light that is reflected. Lighter colors will have a higher value than darker colors, but surface conditions such as texture, for example, Steelscape’s rawhide can impact the LRV. While highly correlated to gloss, different colors within the same gloss rating can have varying LRV values. Often it is hard to compare digital color cards as they are prepared in different conditions. Comparing LRV values can help discern how bright a color will be under natural light conditions.

Speaker 1:
So today we have learned about three important color attributes to consider when evaluating color choice for metal roofs. For more information on the performance attributes of Steelscape’s unique design color solutions, check out our documentation library found at steelscape.com/resources