# Random idea for your top bar roof



## JYawn (Dec 6, 2011)

this will probably sound kind of goofy, but has anyone ever tried to use aluminum foil on the roof of their top bar hive??? I was just wonder how that would work in reflecting heat off of your hive if you have the shiny side up.


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## RobWok (May 18, 2011)

JYawn said:


> this will probably sound kind of goofy, but has anyone ever tried to use aluminum foil on the roof of their top bar hive??? I was just wonder how that would work in reflecting heat off of your hive if you have the shiny side up.


As it turns out, Aluminum doesn't reflect as much as you would think. This is brought up on the Airstream forum (aluminum trailers that can be polished) In some cases, the aluminum can act like black paint. Best is to use an air gap and good ventilation.

I did have an emergency situation on some nucs that I hadn't painted the tops yet and had to split a box due to multiple swarm cells. I just wrapped the tops in foil to keep them dry.


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## MrHappy (Feb 10, 2012)

I don't know about for reflecting heat, but I was thinking of using it for water protection. I was going to try to wrap the foil around cardboard and put a weight on it to keep it there.


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## Steven Ogborn (Jun 3, 2011)

Never thought of foil. I have thought of the sheet rolls of aluminum or galvinized steel you can find in the 
roofing section of Home Depot.


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## jredburn (Feb 25, 2012)

I would suggest wrapping the foil around poster board. Thicker styrofoam is better. Closed cell foam is better yet.
Joe


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## Tom Brueggen (Aug 10, 2011)

Sounds like it would be expensive and would tear easily. If you really want heat reflection, just paint it white, it'd be just as effective as aluminum foil. Recall, metal transferes heat. Think about being in a barn loft under a tin roof in the summer. Sure doesn't feel like any heat is reflecting! 
I'd go with an air gap as suggested above. Just as the eaves in a house allow cool air to draft up and out the peak vents, adding an air gap under the hive roof should do the same.
On my TBH, my roof is just a piece of plastic paneling, typically used for a skylight on a tin roof. I just built a triangle on either end, and ran a few 1"x1" boards the length of the hive to tie it together. The plastic is just folded over the skeleton and tacked with a few screws. But there is no cover between the roof and the the top bars. So it's kind of like a canopy, instead of an attic.


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## JYawn (Dec 6, 2011)

Tom Brueggen said:


> On my TBH, my roof is just a piece of plastic paneling, typically used for a skylight on a tin roof. I just built a triangle on either end, and ran a few 1"x1" boards the length of the hive to tie it together. The plastic is just folded over the skeleton and tacked with a few screws. But there is no cover between the roof and the the top bars. So it's kind of like a canopy, instead of an attic.


That is actually exactly what I have on mine too. This whole foil idea was just a random thought I had and wondered if anyone had tried.


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## KatGold (Jan 18, 2012)

I was having problems with a hot hive, so I added aluminum roofing material to the top. I knew of a roofing project in my neighborhood (someone was putting in a new covered patio) and I asked the workers if they had any scrap roofing. They gave me enough to cover the top. It appears to help a LOT. I don't keep a thermometer in the hive, so I have no actual numbers. But we went from very heavy bearding to not much at all. 

FYI, I also propped the top up with a stick, so I cannot give one solution any more weight than the other. But the combination of the two worked like a charm.


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## RobWok (May 18, 2011)

I have a few top bars. I have copper on mine, and don't have a problem, though they get some shade during the hottest part of the day. 

Thought it would be neat though to get that corrogated roof from Lowes and put that on top of the normal roof of a new one, just to see if that helped with the heat. Plus it would look cool.


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## Daniel Y (Sep 12, 2011)

there are three things that objects do with heat. They store it say as in a barrel of water setting in the sun, they conduct it or pass it on to other things as other things will take it. or they reject it. it is the rejection you are lookign for when trying to keep something cool.
Moisture water whatever you want to think of it as is mostly what your hive is filled with. it makes a great storage tank. not as good as a barrel of water but something along that line. Metal conducts heat. so sheet metal or foil in contact with the hive itself is going to just be a great collector passing the heat on to the moisture of the hive. air rejects heat. that is why you can step into the shade and feel cooler. Heat can also radiate and that is what you fell from the sun itself. remove yourself from the radiation and you also experience cool. Imagine if air conducted heat like metal. everywhere you where touched by air would feel like standing in direct sunlight or touching metal on a sunny day. In fact nearly all insulation works in some manner due to the air it has in it. Trap air between your roof and your hive is most likely the best way to protect it from heat. Dead air space. such as in closed cell foam or fiberglass insulation works the best.


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## SteveBee (Jul 15, 2010)

We built a TBH last year out of cedar and I put a dark brown asphalt shingle roof on it. The bees swarmed three times in about two weeks. I put a thermometer under the roof (attic style) and it was 125 degrees. I tore off the shingles and put some thin aluminum sheeting on it and it immediately dropped to 95 degrees. Foil seems flimsy.


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## Barrett (Feb 20, 2012)

I had an asphalt shingle roof on my first TBH last year as well. When the July heat came I had a couple of combs collapse. After that I covered the whole thing in aluminum foil. It worked to keep the heat down and actually held up pretty well. Since then I found 5V roofing panels work perfect and have made a new roof.


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