Here at Sequoia Sheds, we live and work in Red Bluff, in Northern California. If you’re from anywhere around here, you know that in the summer, Red Bluff is HOT!! I don’t know about you, but it’s the hottest place I’ve ever lived. But I know one place hotter than Red Bluff in the summer, and that’s the inside of a storage shed in the summer.
How do you keep a storage shed cool? The only way to keep it truly cool is air conditioning. But there are several ways to bring down the temperature inside a storage shed. In this blog, I’ll share some things you can do when designing your shed to keep the heat down. These tips will be especially good to know if you haven’t bought a shed yet, but some of them will also be helpful to know even if your shed is already built.
A metal roof is cooler than shingles
Because metal is shiny and smooth, it tends to reflect heat better than shingles do. We did a temperature test with two identical sheds, one with white shingles and one with white metal. On a warm summer day, the shed with the metal roof was 1 to 2 degrees cooler inside. That’s not a huge difference, but at least it shows which one is better.
A light roof color is better than a dark roof color
This is pretty obvious. You can usually put your hand on a light-colored roof on most summer days without getting a burn. Some days it might be a bit risky. But you definitely can’t put your hand on a dark-colored roof. It’s hot!
We did a temperature test with two sheds, a dark green one with white shingles and a dark grey one with black shingles. On a warm summer day, the shed with black shingles was 3 to 4 degrees hotter. Black shingles, or black metal, are the hottest kinds of roof you can have. If it does have to be black, a black metal roof will probably transmit a bit less heat into the shed than black shingles.
Light paint is better than dark paint
The color you paint your shed walls makes a difference. The same thing that applies to the roof applies to the walls. A dark colored wall will absorb more heat than a light colored wall.
Ventilation is key to keeping the temperature down
Getting fresh air into the shed, and exhausting the hot, stale air, is a good way to keep the temperature down a bit. We include a pair of gable vents in all our sheds. We also offer a roof ridge vent, which can make a bit of difference in exhausting air out of the shed a bit faster. Windows that open can get you a lot of air quickly. Windows that create a cross-breeze are probably the single greatest way to ventilate your shed.
Speaking of ventilation, read on to find one of the neatest tricks for ventilating a shed, even without windows.
Solar vent fans are great!
We recently started offering solar vent fans along with our sheds. A pair of small fans fits inside one of the gable vents in our shed. A solar panel on the roof runs the fans whenever the sun shines on the panel. The fans blow air out the one gable vent, and this makes fresh air flow into the other gable vent.
Come check it out on our sales lot! This one move can make a big difference in shed temperature. We tested two identical sheds, one with a solar vent fan, and one without. On a warm summer day, the one with the solar vent fan was 5 to 7 degrees cooler than the other shed.
Shade on your shed will keep it cooler
It’s the sun that heats up your shed. If you can keep the sun from hitting your shed for even part of the day, it will be cooler.
In conclusion, storage sheds without air conditioning will always be hot in the summer. But by keeping in mind the points above, you can be smart about how you design your shed, and do what you can to keep your shed cooler.
