How to Make Your Roof More Energy Efficient

It’s an undeniable truth: Your roofing system plays a crucial part in your home’s overall energy efficiency. Your roof is responsible for protecting your home from the elements, including sunlight, rain, and wind. A well designed and properly installed roofing system can significantly reduce energy costs and improve indoor comfort levels, regardless of the climate. This article will go over the most important features of your roofing system that contributes to energy efficiency.

Roofing Material

‘A roof over your head’ is essential for any form of shelter, let alone your home, and different roofing materials and designs will uniquely impact the temperature inside your home. For example, metal roofs are highly reflective and can help to reduce heat gain by reflecting sunlight away from the building. Additionally, metal roofs can be coated with special heat-reflective paint to further improve their energy efficiency.

But wait! Other roofing materials such as asphalt shingles and clay tiles, can also be designed to improve energy efficiency. Shingles and tiles can be coated with reflective materials or installed with air gaps to increase their insulation properties, thereby reducing heat gain and heat loss.

Roofing Colour

The colour chosen for roof coatings and roofing material, also needs to be acknowledged. Similar to how a hot day can impact a dark-coloured car differently to a light-coloured car, the same effects can be seen with your roof’s colours. Lighter coloured roofing materials tend to reflect more sunlight and reduce heat gain, while darker coloured roofing materials tend to absorb more sunlight and increase heat gain.

Roofing Design & Orientation

Another important factor in the energy efficiency of roofing is the design and orientation of the roof. For example, a flat roof tends to be less energy-efficient than a sloped roof. A flat roof has more surface area being directly exposed to sunlight whilst a sloped roof spreads out the sun’s rays across its angled surface area. Similarly, a roof that faces south will receive more sunlight than a roof that faces north, and may require more insulation or reflective roofing material to maintain energy efficiency.

Roofing Installation & Maintenance

A poorly installed, or unmaintained, roof can leave your roof subject to air leaks and a whole list of potential damages, which will hurt your home’s energy efficiency bottom line.

Roofing Insulation

Insulation is a material that is placed between the roof and the ceiling of a home to regulate indoor temperatures. A properly installed insulation can keep a building warmer during the winter months and cooler during the summer months, reducing the need for heating and air conditioning – and all their associated energy bills. A bonus: insulation can also help reduce noise levels within a home.

Insulation comes in all different sorts of shapes and sizes including batts, blown-in insulation, and rigid foam insulation. Batts are typically made of fiberglass or rock wool and are placed between the roof joists. Blown-in insulation is made of cellulose, fiberglass, or rock wool and is blown into the spaces between the roof joists. Rigid foam insulation is made of polystyrene or polyurethane and is installed on top of the roof sheathing. We recommend you click here to read more information on Insulation.

Roof Sarking

Sarking is similar to insulation, but there are quite a few differences which are outlined in this article. In sum, it’s a reflective material that is installed over the top of the insulation. It also helps to reflect sunlight and reduce heat gain in the summer, while also providing an extra layer of protection against moisture and air infiltration. Roof sarking can, and is usually recommended, to work together with insulation to ensure maximum energy efficiency.

As such, there’s a whole handful worth of different aspects that play a role to your home’s energy efficiency. Apart from the typical insulation & sarking, even just the make-up of your roof’s material, design, colour, and orientation can have an impact too. If you’re looking to step up your home’s energy efficiency, please feel free to contact our team and we’ll personally come out to see your roofing & insulation system to provide our expertise.