Not many people might know it, but the type of roofing material that you’re using for your home does leave a lasting impression on visitors and by-passers. Normally, the naked eye is first drawn to the exterior designs of your home followed by the different objects on your garden followed by the sight of your roof. Overall, roofs have a 40% aesthetic impact on your home.
However, there’s more to roofs than just serving as an aesthetic impact. Roofs and the roofing materials that are installed on it are specifically designed to withstand harsh weather conditions for certain climates and environments. Since the medieval era, middle-eastern homes tend to use flat roofs since there was little to no precipitation, which meant that there was no need for gabled and pitched roof designs. However, European houses needed the gabled roof designs which would be comprised of naturally cut slate shingles or cedar shingles since these materials were known for shedding snow and rainwater easily.
Knowing the right roofing materials for your homes can easily set a good lasting impression for your home while also extending the lifespan of your home’s foundations. In this article, we’ll be discussing in detail what are some of the best roofing materials in the market to this date and what are the unique characteristics of these materials.
Right off the bat, we want to let people know that roofing materials can vary in shape and styles. Metal roofing, for example, can come in different forms such as shingles, panels, and sometimes as a whole body of roofing. As such, we will be also be discussing what are the available styles of these materials.
More than half of residential homes in the United States use this type of shingles since it’s widely produced and easy to replace. Moreover, this comes in many styles such as 3-tab shingles and fiberglass shingles. Having an average lifespan of 15 – 25 years, this is one of the most versatile materials in the market. The only downside to these shingles is that it can be vulnerable to high winds and devastating hailstorms.
However, asphalt shingles have different classes that will vary in terms of quality. The higher the class, the higher the resistance towards stronger winds. Class F shingles can withstand winds of up to 110 miles an hour while class H shingles can easily withstand winds of up to 150 miles an hour.
Clay shingles are quite common among homes in LA, SF, Nevada, and Texas. Moreover, having a lifespan of 30 – 45 years means that this is one of the most durable and long-lasting materials that you can find in the market. This type of shingles fairs well in warmer weather which makes it great for homes that have a Hispanic architecture.
You’ll find wooden shingles and their rustic designs on homes that are situated in colder regions in the country. Wooden shingles are usually made out of different lumber, but the most common roofing shingle in the market are cedar shingles which have an average lifespan of 25 – 30 years. Cedar shingles also come in shakes which are generally thicker and will last 5 years more than their shingle counterparts.
Architectural shingles are a step above asphalt shingles when it comes to durability, longevity, and aesthetics. These shingles are known for having a three-dimensional curb appeal which gives it an ‘embossed’. Having a lifespan of 35 – 40 years, this is one of the higher-end shingles that you can find in the market.
Being quite prevalent in commercial and industrial buildings, metal roofing can come in many different shapes and sizes. Corrugated metal panels and standing seam metal roofing are the most common metal roofings in the market. Corrugated panels tend to have a shorter lifespan of 35 – 45 years while standing seam metal roofing has a lifespan of 50 – 60 years.
However, this type of roofing is also more expensive than other roofing materials. But this is easily compensated over the fact that metal roofs need little to no annual maintenance.
This type of roofing is quite common among flat roofs. TPO and EPDM are just some of the materials that are listed in this family of materials. The flexible and adaptive nature of rubber roofing makes it resistant to the expanding and receding effects of the roof when exposed to fluctuating levels of heat. Normally, higher quality products will have a lifespan of 30 – 45 years while the cheaper products will have a lifespan of 15 – 20 years. Since flat roofing materials need a specialized way of installing on your roof, you’ll need to consult your roofing specialist first.
There are a plethora of different roofing materials that you can choose from and each year, there’s bound to be more state-of-the-art roofing materials that will be introduced to the market. If you’re overwhelmed by the number of materials there are, you don’t have to be; each roofing material has been specifically tailored in excelling in certain weather conditions. That said, you just have to pick the right roofing material for your home roofing Long Valley NJ. If you’re confused about what’s the best roofing material that you can use, you can always consult your professional roofing contractor.
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