November 24, 2017
Roof weight has an impact on more than just the performance of the material on top of your home. When buying a new roof or replacing an old one, consider these three factors:
Your Home’s Value, Energy Efficiency, and Security
Home Value. The cost to dispose of old roofing materials is getting quite exorbitant in many areas of the country. Therefore, saddling your home with a heavy roof that will someday have to be removed and exposed at great expense can be a detriment to your home’s value. Increasingly, when they buy a new home, homeowners are looking not only at the purchase price but also at the anticipated maintenance costs represented by that home. Choosing a long-term and low weight roof, therefore, can increase a home’s value and desirability.
Energy Efficiency. While many people worry that the “mass” of their roofing system might cause their home to be hotter in the summer, it really doesn’t work that way in most residential construction. During the summer, the heat source is the sun outside of your home. The more mass and inherent R-Value held by the roof system, the harder it is for that heat to enter the attic. A metal roof with a reflective coating can offer an additional barrier against heat entry.
Any heat that does get into the attic is ideally directed back outside with proper ventilation. Insulation on top of a home’s ceilings, then, serves to hold heat inside the living space during the winter and also to prevent heat from migrating from the attic into the living space in the hot months.
Security. Heavier weight roof systems often depend upon gravity or failure-prone sealants to hold them together and also to keep them attached to the roof deck in high winds. Additionally, many of those products become brittle and less wind-resistant with age. Ultra-low-weight roof systems, such as metal roofs, depend upon mechanical interlocking for wind resistance; something much more reliable.
The weight of your roof is an important consideration. Low weight roofing can protect a structure in many ways and is well worth considering both for new construction and re-roofing.
Steve Stouder is the owner and operator of Middle South Systems, a leading provider of metal roofing in Southeast Louisiana.