Save Money -- 

Energy Efficient Roofing

There are a few ways you can cut your cooling costs and save money this summer.  

 

For flat roofs (or sloped roofs that have smooth, flat roof type products on them but not shingles), there are ultra-reflective coatings (almost always white).  These coatings are basically rubberized paint with highly effective UV inhibitors built in - it's "SPF 100 for your house".  An ultra reflective coating will reduce the air temperature inside your attic.  I have this coating on my own house (and I just redid mine last week) and my house stays quite a bit cooler.  My personal experience is something like this:

Prior to coating: Outside air temp = 92 degrees @ 2pm, inside air temp 79 degrees and rising with the AC running full blast since 11:30am.
After coating: Outside air temp = 92 degrees @ 2pm, inside air temp 72 degrees. Haven't turned on AC yet!

Naturally it will be different for everyone but the point is that it does help. Coating your roof isn't rocket science but there is a technique and there are good and bad products.  If you're up for it, call us and we'll tell you how to do it and what products we recommend or don't recommend.  If you don't want to haul ten or twenty 50 pound buckets onto your roof and would rather have a pro do it, call us for a free estimate at (877) 7MYROOF.  Again, it's not rocket science, but it's not an easy job either.  It's definitely not like painting inside the house but if you're fit and don't mind ladders, you can get it done.

It's important to keep these coated roofs somewhat clean to maximize their efficiency.

 

Some people don't have any ventilation (and may not even be aware of it) and many either have an ill designed, inefficient or inadequate ventilation system.  Some people have far too much ventilation.  It's a circumstance that's been perpetrated by contractors who were not trained on the subject and simply don't understand how it works.  

I've seen homes that had four power fans on their roof.  They had way too much ventilation, so much so that when I lit a candle, and blew it out near an electrical outlet inside the home, they could see the smoke from the candle get sucked quickly into the outlet.  The excessive power of too many fans created an imbalance and was essentially vacuuming air out of the home which is inefficient.  This can happen with just one fan if there are insufficient intake vents.  All we had to do was remove two fans and this dramatically improved their ventilation and efficiency.

There are countless ways to get the ventilation system wrong, and some are not obvious.  We have spent years studying the proper way to ventilate and believe that in many cases we can dramatically improve your ventilation and in some cases for very little money.

Roof-Mounted Solar Powered Fans: One easy way to radically improve your ventilation without spending a ton of money is to install a roof-mounted solar powered attic fan.  We can often bid these over the phone but regardless, we'd give you a no obligation free estimate.  The nice thing with solar fans is they do not have an electric fan motor (costly to run) and you won't need a professional electrician to wire it up.

 

There are new and exciting ways to improve your home's efficiency when you do a re-roof so bear that in mind if getting a new roof is on the horizon for you then call us to discuss these energy efficient options.

Rebates: In many cases, improving the energy efficiency of your home will qualify you for rebates from the city, state or your power provider.  Click this link http://www.fypower.org/ and visit your local power provider and/or city websites for details.  They are usually easy to find and these are popular programs.  You accountant can inform you of any federal programs that might apply. 

Roof Check-Up

We also offer the roof check-up as a service for a low price of $155.00 (which is less than our minimum service charge). We will inspect and do routine maintenance on your roof. If nothing is required there is no charge. In an instance where the roof is very large, requires much work or is not walkable (very steep), there would be no charge and we will simply send you a proposal at no charge of course. Free estimates are always available but the roof check-up service always ends up saving the customer money if taken advantage of. Simply put, if we only have to drive to your property once, we can afford to charge less than our typical minimum service charge.