Why Do The Houses In Bermuda Have White Roofs

As a result bermuda s roofs have evolved over four centuries to do two things.

Why do the houses in bermuda have white roofs.

Just like the blue and white houses in santorini you re hit with a certain aesthetic feel but did you know that the scarcity of fresh water has made them a necessity. These terraced limestone roofs have a very important purpose namely to collect the island s water supply. The buildings were originally quite plain due to the brittleness of limestone and lingering puritanical asceticism. 1 as a way to keep the inside of the house cool in our very hot summers.

It has become a leed leadership in energy and environmental design standard of the u s. 2 when it rains we have pipes that connect from the roof top and run down into an underground tank. When you pull into the royal navy dockyard you ll be treated to hills filled with the white roofs of bermuda. The secret is in the design of their houses and particularly the white stepped roof which is still in use 400 years after it was first introduced.

By law every house must collect 80 percent of the water that falls on its roof. Sometimes a unique environment coupled with scarcity results in beautiful solutions. Did you also know that these white roofs have a beneficial environmental impact. We have white roofs for 2 main reasons.

A british visitor to bermuda will feel instantly at home even if the weather is far warmer and sunnier than anything imaginable on the british isles. Bermuda is set upon porous limestone and wells often yielded brackish or salt water. By 1687 only 29 of the 579 houses in bermuda had been upgraded to stone and only 63 were shingled. The earliest roofing was made of palmetto thatch but partially from encouragement from the colonial government stone shingles slowly came to be preferred.

Why houses in bermuda have white stepped roofs ucl news ucl university college london. For each square foot of roof space all houses must have eight gallons of tank space. Drinking water has been a concern ever since human habitation began in bermuda in the 1600s. Commonly referred to as cool roofing it has received a stamp of approval from the state of california which has adopted its use in its building codes.

Why houses in bermuda have white stepped roofs. Professor henrietta moore ucl institute for global prosperity comments on how white stepped roofs in bermuda are designed to harvest rain. By harry low bbc news. The whitewashed roofs have a tremendous and positive.

Green building council and has been mandated by government officials in chicago. Roofs with a purpose. Protect houses against gale force winds and funnel whatever the heavens rain down into large cisterns that feed household taps.