Ask the Expert Question-and-Answer Archive

by Ron Joseph

October, 2003

Painting Aluminum Roof to Reduce Glare

Q. What would you recomend for reducing the glare for an aluminum roof. Should we acid wash the alluminum, prime and paint or epoxy cover. The alluminum roof is in a coastal environment. Please provide some sort of solution for reducing the glare for our neighbors.

A. You have answered your own question quite well. Yes, you can acid etch the roof with a wash primer that you can purchase from an industrial paint store and then follow with a primer and topcoat. Frankly, I would apply an acrylic roof paint and not an epoxy. Epoxy coatings can become very hard and brittle with long term exposure to sunlight, and they tend to chalk quite soon after application. Moreover, they can be very difficult to remove if you ever need to do so. On the other hand, an acrylic roof paint can easily be topcoated for maintenance after years of exposure.