Energy Efficient Roofing

Ener­gy effi­cien­cy comes in all shapes and sizes.  We fre­quent­ly talk of how to be more effi­cient with our light­ing, heat­ing, cool­ing and even appli­ances.  We don’t often talk about the roof.  Being a home­own­er requires lots of choic­es to be made whether you are build­ing a home or repair­ing or replac­ing prod­ucts in your cur­rent home.

When con­sid­er­ing roof­ing mate­ri­als you need to take into account the cli­mate for your area and what effi­cien­cy fea­tures are impor­tant to you. Some roof­ing mate­r­i­al options are shin­gles, met­al roof­ing, slate, or tile.  No mat­ter what your choice is, you can look for the Ener­gy Star rat­ing on cer­tain products.

Roofs can get pret­ty hot with the sun beat­ing on them.  This can make upper floors of homes and build­ings very hot.  Some roof­ing mate­ri­als are now made to do a bet­ter job of reflect­ing the sun’s heat which will in turn keep what’s under­neath cooler.

Here are some ener­gy effi­cient types of roofing:

1. Met­al roof­ing is one of the BEST choic­es you can make! These roofs, when prop­er­ly installed, can last up to 50 years.  They are wind and bad weath­er resis­tant and fire­proof.  They are light so your build­ing sup­ports are bear­ing less load.  This style roof comes in many col­ors and styles.
2. Tile roof­ing is insu­la­tion per­fec­tion.  Under­neath the tiles air can cir­cu­late and con­serve ener­gy.  Tile can stand up against hail and storms.  This style roof also lasts many years, is fire resis­tant and also comes in a vari­ety of col­ors and styles.
3. Shin­gle roof­ing such as the asphalt shin­gles are not always ener­gy effi­cient.  The ener­gy effi­cient shin­gles are made a lit­tle dif­fer­ent­ly and can make a 100 degree dif­fer­ence on your roof’s sur­face.  This makes a big dif­fer­ence inside the build­ing too.  Asphalt shin­gles are the most cost effec­tive roof­ing sys­tem on the mar­ket.  These shin­gles also help with sound pen­e­tra­tion so out­side noise will be less with this type of roof.
4. Slate roofs are fire and mold resis­tant.  Slate roofs are very resis­tant to frost dam­age and break­age due the low water absorption.

Ven­ti­la­tion and insu­la­tion is some­thing else that is essen­tial to con­sid­er.  You need prop­er ven­ti­la­tion so air can cir­cu­late through attic spaces.  To prop­er­ly vent air you should have vents that allow air in as well as allow­ing air to exit.  To opti­mize your ener­gy effi­cien­cy you also need insu­la­tion. In the win­ter, insu­la­tion will keep your heat from ris­ing to the attic and in the sum­mer insu­la­tion keeps the heat in the attic out of your home.

Some­times roof­ing comes with a tax cred­it to the home­own­er.  Check with your local installer for more information.