heat resistant roof

[roma]

hi

recently I have bought a flat in delhi and it is ont he top floor. So in summer it is unbearable hot. I aws thinking of making it heat resistant so that i am able to use optimum comercial energy.
any inexpensive idea ......how to do it?

[shamit]

Least expensive cover your terrace with potted plants

You could also go in for under deck insulation and false ceiling.

Today many vendors are pushing heat reflective coatings which "They Claim" can be used for traffic (walk).  I had personaly done a test on one such material but it did not live upto its claim of heat relection nor usabilty.

Other options would inclde rippinig open you existing roof covering (read expensive) most probably Mud phaska and brick tiles, and introducing a material that would increase the time lag required for heat to travel inside.

The materials can be

1. Inverted shallow pots (air is a good insulator)
2. 50 mm Thermocole
3. 25 MM PUF (Roffmatte etc.)
4. Vermaculite (dont remeber the specs off hand).
 Plus many otherwater proofing heat reflective memberaness.


On top of this you will require a layer of screed, waterproofing and then a top surface as you may want for the roof (brick tiles, kota stone, marbles or even china mosaic (also reflects heat).

[Guest_pakhi]

try this:
spread gunny bags(boori) all over the roof..n sprinkle water on it..
                  it works really!!

[gerald]

I don't know what budget you have for this project, but depending on what your planning on spending, you could retrofit different levels of insulation on the roof. Insulation comes in various types and any 3" rigid board insulation like polyurethene or polystyrene would give you about an R15-R20 heat resistance. Then its simply making a built-up roof over the existing roof slab.
There are other inexpensive ideas but you might need to check the structural integrity of the slab first before any intevention. Earthern pots make excellent insulation due to the trapped air within the pots. One idea that come to my mine is inverting pots over the whole slab and then pouring a filler like concrete motor or even "soil", as a kind of a greenroof. However, these ideas will need to be engineered to adress moisture and water issues. I will be glad to brainstorm and talk about this issue in general.

Gerald