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Your Home’s Roof Needs To Be Top Notch: Here Are Some Options

There are a lot of reasons to bring your roof’s quality to the highest level. It increases property value, makes your home more aesthetic, saves on heating/cooling, and has other major impacts on your home. But there are a lot of options to choose from and it’s important to know about the options and their advantages. 

wooden house with balcony in sunny village

Choose An Outstanding Material

The material you choose will have major affects on several aspects of your new roof. And there are a lot of options to choose from in this day and age. Traditional materials include asphalt, ceramic, and wood. Nowadays, steel roofs are becoming more popular for several reasons, including price and longevity, with colorbond roof construction being the most outstanding steel roof product. Every material has its advantages and disadvantages that need to be considered, so that’s why you need to choose carefully before delving deeper into construction. 

Pick An Interesting Color

One thing you can do to differentiate your home and roof is to pick an atypical color. There are more choices of color than most people realize. Even asphalt shingles come in a variety of shades. Ceramic tiles also have some different color options available that aren’t available with wood or asphalt shingles. However, steel roofs come painted in the widest range of color options. Steel roofs come in almost every color you can think of including copper. 

Consider The Thermal Qualities

Speaking of roof color, the choice you go with will have consequences on your heating and cooling bill. White roofs reflect more heat and keep your house cooler, a great feature for hot climates. On the other hand, black roofing absorbs more light and heat, great for cold environments. 

There are other thermal qualities to consider when re-shingling your house. Ceramics have a massive capacity to hold heat and cool slowly. That means they amplify the effect of the sun on your living environment. It’s up to you whether that’s a good thing. But it’s an oven disguised as a house. Metal roofs conduct heat very well. That means they heat up quickly but cool down quickly as well. While asphalt shingles are the most neutral option.

Purchase For Longevity

Not all shingles are created equally. Asphalt roofs wear out fairly quickly. Around 20 years. However, one severe hail storm can cut that short. Tornados, hurricanes, and blizzards also threaten to blow away flimsy asphalt shingles. 

Ceramic shingles last significantly longer at around 50 years. Metal roofs take the cake though lasting up to 70 years. Choosing an alternative material to asphalt shingles greatly extends the lifespan of your roof. You’ll likely never have to re-shingle again.  

Regularly Maintain Shingles

Roof maintenance is an important aspect of home maintenance because the consequences of poor performance are very expensive. Poorly maintained roofs can go south in a hurry. One undetected link has disastrous consequences because it can rot the supporting infrastructure and the roof frame. It can also run down the walls and cause various forms of damage to the structure, wallboard, and electrical systems. 

Proper roof maintenance prevents expensive repairs and prolongs the longevity of your roof. This means maintaining shingles is extremely important. Your roof should be inspected after major weather events and at least once every few months if it’s uneventful. If you locate a shingle that’s missing, cracked, torn, or otherwise improperly installed, it should be replaced or repaired immediately. Flashing around skylights, plumbing vents, and attic vents should be inspected carefully. 

Clean Out Your Gutters

One frequently overlooked home task is to clean gutters. This needs to be done periodically and the frequency of this chore depends on the tree coverage you have. The consequences of not doing this chore are more dangerous than you might think. Gutters that are full of leaves can’t drain well. When water pools up, it can contact the eave of the house and wick into the structural surface. This leads to rotting and premature wear and tear. 

Trim Nearby Trees

Trees are a beautiful addition to almost any property. But they can cause some problems with your roof. While they provide shelter from the sun and rain, they cause two major problems if they are improperly maintained. First, they shed a lot of leaves and this will require more frequent gutter clean outs. 

The second issue is more drastic. Trees can grow too close to houses causing damage to the roof, they can drop large limbs on the roof causing damage, and they can fall directly onto the roof and cause destruction of the roof and parts of the house. Properly trimmed trees will drop fewer leaves on your roof and won’t have dead or large limbs dangling precariously over your house. Trimmed and maintained trees are less top-heavy and less likely to fall over.

Krystal | Sunny Sweet Days
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