One of the biggest banes of every homeowner’s existence would be the sheer terror of trying to figure your electricity bills, heating bills, and all the other receipts you have to pay for just living where you’re living.
Now, unless you’re Scottish and have frugality in your blood, you need to reduce the costs of your living. Wasted energy means wasted money, and wasted money is bad for your home budget. Anyway, possibly the biggest waste of energy in our houses would be the state of our roofs. The problem with this part would be that, if not installed correctly, and if bad materials are used, you’ll be forced to spend more money on heating during the winter, and also on cooling during the summer.
To battle this, what you need to do is set up a high-quality roof right off the bat. In this way, you don’t need to think about additional insulation jobs or spending more time in making it not leak or some other calamity.
In this article, we’re going to talk about how installing an energy-efficient roof can save you money down the road. Also, we’ll discuss a thing or two about solar panels, so you can figure out whether or not it would pay off for you to install some of these on top of your roof.
Right then folks, without further ado, here’s the deal.
How to Avoid Wasting Energy by Choosing a Quality Roof
Green Roofs
Perhaps you’ve already seen these installed somewhere in the Netherlands or perhaps Denmark. They’re quite popular in Europe, thanks to their all-natural looks and energy-efficient properties.
The main idea behind these green roofs is that the roof is covered with special plants, which do well do both insulate the roof itself and absorb moisture and the other elements of nature along the line, as well.
Clay Tiles and Slate Roofing
These two options can be a great way to bypass some of the more expensive roofing options nowadays. The trick is to install them as any clay tile roof and then coat them with a heat-repellent color, which will then ward off sun rays during the hot summer days.
Insulation
A relatively simple way of ensuring you’ve massively increased your roof’s energy efficiency would be to simple insulate the area just beneath it. (You’ll have to do this from the loft beneath, of course.)
No matter what type of roof surface you’ve bought and intend to set up, a good amount of insulation underneath will certainly make your option.
Solar Panels and Surfaces They Can Be Installed On
Asphalt Shingle Roofs
The asphalt shingles represent a great surface to set up solar panels. Thanks to the fact that these asphalt roof shingles can be easily drilled through. You needn’t worry about renting any special equipment for this. A simple drill and some nuts ‘n’ bolts will do the trick. (Provided, of course, you already have all the necessary parts to install the panels themselves.)
Clay Tile Roofs
If asphalt shingles were one of the best materials for installing asphalt shingles, clay tiles are probably the worst ones. While clay tiles do a great job as a roof and look quite attractive as well, when it comes to fitting solar panels on them – they represent a proper problem.
To make room for the panels, you need to remove some tiles because you can’t drill into them. (Because they’re way too brittle and would certainly crack.)
So, to set up a solar panel on a clay tile roof, you may need to harness the help of a roofing company. If you’re in Australia, for example, you can contact the Flash Roof Plumbing folks. It’s better to talk to the professionals than mess up large sections of your roof by trying to do it yourself.
The bottom line, a well-insulated and prepared roof (in case you fancy installing those solar panels after all) is a great way to reduce your energy costs all year round. A bit of initial investment and some effort can truly pay off in the long run.
