Green Friendly
Energy Efficient Roof Shingles
The right roof is essential to designing an environmentally friendly and energy-efficient home. If you’ve got typical shingles or hot asphalt on your roof—as many homeowners do—you could be doing better.
Use recycled shingles. If you want an environmentally friendly roof, the worst thing you can do is install 15-year, non-recycled shingles. These are among the most disposable building materials, are hardly ever recycled, and contain toxic volatile organic chemicals that evaporate under the heat of the sun. This means that just by sitting under the sun and heating up, your home is releasing toxic chemicals into the air. For a greener option, use recycled asphalt shingles that use reclaimed materials, reducing waste. These shingles often have a 50-year lifespan instead of 15, so you won’t have to replace them as often.
Consider metal. Metal roofs are more energy-efficient than shingles. Metal roofing is typically made from aluminum, copper, or steel, and you should ensure that your roofing is lead-free. Metal does not have the kind of heat-absorption qualities shingles have, so it will absorb and radiate less heat into your home. In fact, the right color metal will actively reflect sunlight, keeping your home cooler in hot summer months when the sun is most intense. Metal roofing also stands up to the elements better than shingles typically do—it’s the best for rainwater catchment systems, and snow slides off it easily. Reflective coatings. To make your shingled roof more energy-efficient, brush a reflective coating on. Uncoated shingled roofs typically absorb around 80% of the sunlight that hits them—heating your home in the summer and driving up your air conditioning bill. A coated roof, however, can reflect about 80% of heat—giving you significant energy savings.
Slate. Slate is both energy-efficient, can be disposed of without pollution, and is much less toxic than shingles. Slate is far more durable—it can last up to 100 years with minimal maintenance. Slate can also be reclaimed and recycled.
Call Aspin Home Group today to discuss green-friendly products and for a FREE ESTIMATE on your roofing needs at 250-729-9298