My house is hot in the southern United States. Trying to add insulation in the attic space during the summer almost killed me last year. The attic was so unbelievably hot. I have developed a roof leak and was thinking about a metal roof on top of my current roof. I was wondering why a metal roof can’t be installed on braces a few inches above an existing roof to function as a roof and shade. The airflow between the two would have to cool the attic, much better than if the heat radiated through straight to the shingles and plywood. We bought a sunshade for our back patio, and I’ve thought about even something as simple as that over smaller homes could drastically help.
In: Engineering
If you targeted the shade specifically to the parts of your house that would benefit the most from it (the windows) the idea you’re proposing is essentially [awnings](https://wikipedia.org/wiki/Awning). They’re an excellent source of cheap cooling, but they fell out of style when air conditioning became broadly available. Perhaps they’ll become popular again in the future as the cost of cooling continues to rise.
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