Consider the Future of your New Roof

It is a new home, should you already be thinking about what to do when the roof needs to be replaced? You sure do! A roof protects your home. It takes all the damage and sacrifices itself for you and your family. This means it will eventually need to be replaced.

No one likes to think about replacing a roof because it is a hassle and expensive. And isn’t one of the benefits of building a new home the fact that you don’t need to think about these things? Well, yes, but a little thought and planning now can make a huge difference down the road.

Consider All the Factors

Beyond the aesthetics of roofing materials, there are many factors to take into consideration. There is cost, durability, and recyclability of the roofing material itself. If your goal is to get the best of all three of those factors you are probably leaning towards a metal roof.

A metal roof offers strength and durability. Monticello, Thomas Jefferson's Virginia home, still has its original "tin" roof and it is in fine shape. You might be saying, that's fine but a metal roof just won’t look right on my home. However, what you might not know is that today a metal roof can look like almost any other type of roofing.

There is metal roofing that looks just like slate, cedar shingles, and even tile. If there is a style or a material of roofing (except thatched) you can think of, there is a metal roofing style to match it.

So a metal roof can be made to work with any style of home you are building. And we know they are durable. A metal roof should last at least 60 years. Some manufactures offer even longer warranties.

One of the benefits of a metal roof is the weight. A metal roof of standard 26 gauge has a weight of between .90 and 1 pound per square foot. Because the material is so light the roof structure can be a lot cheaper to engineer and to construct than with other roofing materials.

Of course metal roofs can be very expensive initially, their longevity means their cost over the life of your roof is greatly lower than other materials.

Finally, we come to the end. When a metal roof needs to be replaced, the roofing material can be recycled into many different products.

As much as we like metal roofs, they are not for everyone. There are other roofing materials that have a lot of the same benefits as a metal roof. But regardless of the materials used, the future of a roofing system should be taken into consideration during construction. A little bit of planning now will save you a lot of money and time in the future.