Shingles cover the rooftop of most American homes. Still, every roof looks different, because there is more than on type of shingle in the marketplace of home construction products. With so many options available, how does a homeowner pick the best shingle?
Would asphalt shingles be the best choice?
Homes that have such shingle on the roofing structure manage to save money on their energy bills. Some homeowners have elected to try some of the newer shingles—those made from organic or fiberglass materials. Yet even those newer materials do not create a roofing product that can last for more than 20 years.
Would it be better to pick tile shingles?
The shingles’ lifetime gets extended to 80 years, if they have been crafted from tile. However, that product with a long lifetime is both expensive and heavy. It cannot be used on all types of homes. Furthermore, not all homeowners can afford those expensive tiles.
What are the principal features of a slate shingle?
The shingle that has been created from slate lasts even longer than the one that has been crafted from tile. It has a lifetime of 80 to 100 years. Furthermore, it does not damage easily. Still, that long-lasting and durable roofing product does come with some drawbacks. It is quite heavy, so it cannot be used on all homes. Moreover, it can prove costly to pay for repairs to slate roofing.
What if the shingles’ composition were wood? Would that be a good option?
Roofing Company in San Jose is of the view that homeowners that care about the environment have shown a special interest in the wood shingle. It ensures a reduction in the size of the home’s energy bills. Yet is has to receive a special treatment, in order to prevent development of mold or termite colonies.
Still, even with that treatment the wood shingle lacks one significant feature. It remains a product that is not fire retardant. That characteristic removes it from the list of roofing options, whenever the shingle-searching homeowner lives in one of the fire-prone regions of the United States.
Could the shingles’ chief component be something other than the ones mentioned?
What about carbon fiber, could that be used in a shingle? It is strong, and also light weight. That would allow it to be used on a greater number of homes. Of course, at this time, it does not come in lots of different colors. Hence, it might not be too popular among the larger group of shingle-shoppers. Yet, if summers were to keep getting hotter, with fire-prone regions getting larger, then the day might come when the roofs of today could look as strange as the straw roofs of long ago look to us today.