The Best Summer Roof is a Metal Roof
May 25, 2021 | Filed under: Buying a New Roof,Energy,Newsletter Articles,Research
When summer comes, so do the memories of childhood. Remember the heat from a boiling asphalt driveway? With bare feet, we quickly learned that you wouldn’t scorch your feet if you ran fast enough.
Asphalt can’t change its nature when it comes to heat.
Asphalt gets hot, and although the asphalt on that driveway isn’t the same as the kind in your shingles, they both absorb and transfer heat too well. The sun is unkind to asphalt shingles, wearing them down, bleaching them out, and sometimes causing them to split and crack.
With temperatures on the rise this year, asphalt shingles bake, releasing their heat into your attic and then through the rest of your home. As a result, you must run the air conditioning more often to contest the heat coming in from up top. Unfortunately, even with adequate attic ventilation, asphalt can’t change its nature when it comes to heat. Asphalt is definitely not the best summer roof.
What difference does a metal roof make?
Now, let’s compare a metal roof’s summer performance to what we’ve seen so far from asphalt. At first, you might think metal gets hot, and it does. Just like that awful metal slide on the playground that would sear your backside as you flew down it, metal does absorb heat too.
The difference is the finish. The specialized coatings of every metal roofing solution we manufacture aid in reflecting heat instead of absorbing it. The coatings are formed on the metal with layers of primer and paint over the metal’s substrate.
Asphalt doesn’t have this kind of protection and will start to wear down and lose color from prolonged exposure to the sun, not something you want from your roofing material.
Special coatings like these last for upwards of 50 years, and some with extra layers last even longer. Different coatings affect reflectivity differently, with lighter colors more efficiently than darker ones. By reflecting heat, a metal roof reduces the effect of radiant heat from the sun.
Additional Heat Reduction and Energy Savings from a Metal Roof
Classic Metal Roofing solutions use integral airspace to limit conductive heat and proper attic ventilation to combat convective heat. This solution can drastically affect the heat of your home. Some of our homeowners have lowered their energy bills by 20%, like this one in Arizona!
Your savings can be hundreds of dollars a year, all from choosing the right roof. We’ve even found that our roofs can extend air conditioner life by reducing the time they need to run.
Ready for the best summer roof?
So this summer, don’t get caught trying to beat the heat with asphalt. Instead, switch to metal and cool down your home, all while saving money.
Connect with us today to find the right roof for your home.
