Posted Mar 26, 2011, 5:28 AM
|
|
Registered User
|
|
Join Date: Aug 2009
Posts: 1,226
|
|
City painting its roof white
Quote:
THIRUVANATHAPURAM: The city is painting its roof white to beat the heat this summer. Sun shield paints which claim to reduce the room temperature by six to seven degrees are being sold by the litres in the city with the onset of the dog days. And if experiments with paint are to be believed, mercury levels in homes drop considerably with the bleached roofs.
Santha Paint House, one of the biggest retailers in the city, says that the sales of heat reduction paints of various brands have gone up with more and more people opting for it as the next best thing to centralised air conditioning. Says Vijayakumar, paint consultant and managing partner of Santha Paint House: ‘’Heat shield paints that could be used on roofs have been available for some years now. But, now there is an increased awareness among people about such products. The paints, marketed by top-notch companies, can reduce the temperature by six to seven degrees in the house.’’
The paints that come under the heat shield category cost between Rs 400 - 450 per litre and can be used only on an area of about 30 sq ft. The material cost for painting a roof of about 1,000 sq ft can range from Rs 40,000 - 50,000. But cost is not hindering people from buying the product, says Vijayakumar. ‘’Any good exterior emulsion will cost you about the same. People are ready to spend money on a product worth its price,’’ he said. He adds that another option is to use any white exterior paint on the roof. ‘’White paints, if laid thickly, can reduce heat to a great extend. The expense also will be around half of what it takes to use the original heat reduction paints.’’
However, users have found ways to beat the cost factor. Says Thomas Abraham, an ISRO engineer who lives in PTP Nagar: ‘’The terrace of my house comes to over 2,000 sq ft. If the paint is diluted and used over a larger area, we will not get the desired effect. So, what I did was to lay two coats of paint on the roof of the bedrooms.’’ Abraham, however, vouches for excellent results. ‘’It is certainly much cooler now. It had been almost impossible to sleep through the sultry nights, let alone the steamy afternoons. I am thinking of painting the whole terrace,’’ he said.
Abraham cut the cost factor further by donning the painter’s hat himself. Saji, a businessman who painted the whole roof of his house at Nanthencode, also did the work by himself. “It feels much less balmy in the day time and definitely cool in the nights,’’ he says.
Since not everyone can pull off the painting by themselves, heat reduction paints have brought a windfall for painters too this season. Ramachandran, a painter for over 30 years, says his brush has had a busy schedule this summer, thanks to the painting spree in the city. ‘’I get a contract almost every other week these days. So many people are using the paint on the roof, such is the heat, you know. From my experience, I think the composition of these paints can help prevent leaks too. It is a good substitute for Bitumin, which was earlier used on roofs to cover fault lines,’’ he said.
With mercury levels soaring, more roofs in the city are sure to go white in the coming days. Perhaps, the poll camps can go for the paints to bring down the heat levels too.
|
Source : Expressbuzz
|