Best Roofing Material for a Warm Climate

Roofing Materials for a Warm ClimateYou do not have to live in Death Valley to experience those hotter than blazes days where your energy is sapped before your feet ever touch the floor. Sure, the A/C or ceiling fans help, but to keep you cool as a cucumber, your energy bill will skyrocket.

But, there are alternative measures you could take to cool your home and lower your energy bill every single day that the sun is out and shining. Unfortunately, that golden sun is not only responsible for your golden glow and carefree sunny days at the beach, but it is beating down on the outside of your house – namely your roof, causing your A/C to work harder to keep the inside of your house cool to your satisfaction.

New roofing options

The asphalt roof has been gracing homeowners’ homes for many years – the price is reasonable, and its durability of approximately twenty years, cannot be beat. But, in a warm-weather state such as California, your asphalt roof acts as a magnet for the sun, attracting the sun’s rays and absorbing that heat, transferring it to the confines of your home. This is especially true if you have dark-colored asphalt shingles. There are other viable roofing options guaranteed to cool your home.

Cool your home naturally

If you consider installing a roof which is comprised of natural stone, you will help to lower your energy bill since roofs made of stone are slow to heat up and by the time the sun sets, your roof is only then starting to heat up. What a plus for you since after it is dark, the roof will start cooling off once again anyway. Here are a handful of options if you are in the market for this natural medium of roofing material.

There is not a more aesthetically pleasing roof than one made of natural slate. The bonus is that that natural stone will not allow the sun’s hot rays to penetrate through the roof and into your home, thus keeping your home much cooler. Though you may never recoup the full amount of your slate roof in energy savings, you will have a cooler home and a lower-than-average monthly bill, plus, you will not need to replace your roof, if it was installed properly by a skilled roofing contractor, for at least one century!

Other natural stone roofs that do an admirable job of cooling your home, and are not as costly to install, are concrete tiles or clay/terracotta. The beauty of these natural stones are that they can be installed in their natural color, or “as is”, or you can have them tinted to match your home or glazed to prohibit water damage if you desire. The cool stone of these roofs naturally reflects the sun away from your home.

Viable option

If you eschew a natural stone roof, and want to opt for a more traditional style, why not consider a metal roof? While you are apt to think of how hot your car door handle or trunk is on a hot day as the sun bakes that poor vehicle you will wonder how metal will not absorb the sun’s rays and similarly suck the heat into the home. Well, metal roofs come in naturally metallic finishes, oven baked finishes or granular-coated surfaces. You can opt for a white metal roof, thus eliminating that shiny metal grab of hot rays. Or, a metal roof can become the ultimate cool roof by painting it with a special solar reflecting finish, which will not absorb as much sunlight and heat as the traditional type of roof.

Whatever type of roof you install, or medium that you apply to thwart the sun’s rays, you should know that a “cool roof” will stay approximately fifty degrees cooler than a regular, asphalt shingled roof.

A cool roof

Here are some other options to discuss with a reputable roofing contractor to see if any of these roofing mediums will work for your home: a highly reflective paint, special tiles or shingles which block harmful ultra violet rays and provide waterproofing properties, or, mineral-surfaced sheets or single-ply membranes guaranteed to repel the sun. Doing this keeps your home cooler on a hot day, on the same principle, just as you wear white clothing in the Summer to manage to keep cool when you are outside in the heat.

Energy efficiency trumps everything else

The several alternatives mentioned above no doubt have piqued your interest on how to keep your home cool without an exorbitant utility bill.

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