Roofs might be stationary all the time and not consume any energy, but they play an important role in maintaining the energy efficiency of the home. There are several factors you need to consider before finalizing your roof material. These affect your safety and comfort and they also affect the environment in different ways. Below is a discussion on how to choose an energy efficient roof as installed by contractors in Griffith Park.
Sealing the Envelope
When a region has a wide range of temperatures like winters and summers, choosing a roof that keeps you comfortable is a difficult task. If your roof is not properly insulated, it could seriously affect the comfort of your home. One of the main things to remember is to prevent all passage of air in and out of the house. When you use your furnace or your air conditioner, the air may leak if there are gaps and this could lead to energy wastage.
You can visit your attic once in a while to see the difference in temperature. This will help you find if you need another level of insulation for your roof. Leaving your attic uninsulated could lead to big energy loss. Seal the gaps but remember to leave vents within the attic to allow the smooth outflow of the hot air.
Choose roof materials with higher reflectivity and high emissivity. This will help improve the home’s efficiency by reflecting the sun’s rays.
Maintain the Cool
Rooftops can get extremely hot in the summers. This causes your air conditioning to work harder than usual and consumes more energy. Besides, this also leads to the heat island effect in urban areas. When numerous buildings exist close together, the temperature of their rooftops fail to escape and the overall temperature rise higher than the surrounding rural areas.
You can choose a cool roof that reflects the major part of the sun’s light. This will help reduce the temperature of your home.
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
Replaced roofs are usually sent to the landfills and cause a huge environmental impact. Therefore, it is important to adopt sustainable practices while selecting a roof. Modern roofing materials are made in a way that after their use, they can be sent back to the initial stage and recycled into something useful.
Overall, the roof plays a crucial role in the energy expenses of a home although this is not usually noticed. Make sure you also take the environmental factors into consideration before purchasing the roofing material that suits your needs. Know more about roofing materials here.