Beating the Heat...Hopefully

Have I mentioned that it gets really hot here? To give you some idea of what I mean, at about 9:30 this morning the temperature was pegged at 90 degrees. And for those of you reading this and still have snow on the ground, please, please, do not think of this as weather gloating. It's just the way it is here. And while we are enjoying some steady winds to take the edge off the heat, those winds won't last forever (not to mention the fact that all that wind is blowing very hot air). That's when you look at the weather forecast and cringe -- oh-so-slightly -- when you see that the "real feel" temperature will hit triple digits and you know full well that even your eyeballs will be sweating really, really soon.

Our house has a metal roof (down here it's called zinc, even though there's no zinc in it. Don't ask me why; it's Belize baby), and the house was designed with an air gap under the roof to help reduce heat build-up inside the house. Unfortunately, the vents are only on the sides and front of the house, so all that hot air would build up in the back. David solved part of that problem by installing a solar powered attic fan.

We're now taking additional steps to beat the heat, namely painting our roof with this:

We know of a few folks who have used it and inside temperatures came down anywhere from seven to ten degrees. Not too shabby! Granted, it's not the most inexpensive paint (about $370 BZD for a 4.75 gallons), but if it works, it's worth the investment. 

Because the back of the house gets the brunt of the sun, we decided to start there. Our friend, Graham, offered a few of his work crew to move the project along.

The first step was to sweep off any debris, then power wash. (Just as an aside, doesn't that sky look lovely?)

David and Javier

The painting got underway...

...while David and Graham supervised.

Over the course of a few days, two coats were applied. 

Once the final coat was dry, David noticed some areas that needed some touching up, so he's been taking care of those. Next step: painting the rest of the roof. We've also decided that at some point we'll paint the fascia a lovely tropical blue color. Will be sure to post our progress and whatever difference we notice in temperature with the new roof paint!