Metal roofing is superior to shingles or tiles in so many different ways. It’s more protective against extreme weather, it lasts up to 5 times longer, and it’s more efficient for your thermostat!
Summer months can be cruel here in Arkansas and all across the southern Midwest! Temperatures can be in the high 90’s and even low 100’s for weeks on end. Your poor HVAC system is huffing and puffing to keep your home below 75, and you’re paying outrageous utility bills. What if we told you it doesn’t have to be that way? Swapping to metal roofing could offer relief to your AC unit and your wallet. Here’s how.
Asphalt Absorbs Heat and Gets HOT HOT HOT!
Close your eyes and think back to summers when you were a kid. You just finished a long day at the pool, and your mom’s waiting right outside the gates to pick you up. You hop out of the pool, race shoeless across the concrete (which is already hot enough), but then you step foot out onto the asphalt parking lot. Do you remember that feeling of your feet burning?
Asphalt is one of the most heat-absorbing materials out there, and most shingles are made from it! If you’ve got asphalt shingle roofing, those shingles get that same level of hot in the summer months. The whole roof is a scorching layer of heat covering your home, which makes your AC unit work overtime to counteract it.
Metal Roofing Reflects Heat and Keeps Your Home Cooler
You may be remembering that same summer day at the pool, also getting burned by the metal seat belt in the car. How can metal be more efficient at cooling a home than asphalt if it gets just as hot?
A roofing material’s efficiency at cooling your home has less to do with how hot it gets in the peak of a summer’s day, and more to do with whether it absorbs or reflects that heat. Asphalt is incredibly absorbent of heat. Metal, on the other hand, is highly reflective of heat. While it does warm up under the sun, it functions differently than asphalt.
Metal reflects radiant heat from the sun, sending it away from your home. This can knock several degrees off the temp your thermostat reads inside your home during the summer days.
Plus, since the heat’s not being absorbed, your metal roof will cool off much quicker after the sun goes down than asphalt roofing will, allowing your AC unit to take a well-deserved break. With asphalt roofing, your AC system is working pretty much 24/7 since the roof doesn’t cool down much before the sun rises again.
Metal roofing absorbs only a fraction of the heat that asphalt does, especially if you choose a lighter color like beige, silver, or light copper! The darker the roof, the more heat that will get absorbed. The lighter pigmentation of the color of your roof, the more heat that will get reflected. This helps your thermostat detect less heat, which makes your AC unit work less, which saves you money.
The Non-Metal Parts of a Metal Roof
Sure, the sheets of roofing that you see when you look at your home are metal. However, there’s more to metal roofing than those sheets. There are wooden joists that hold the materials up. There are rubber pieces that help to seal the materials. And there’s insulation that helps to keep the summer heat out of your home. All of these things work in tandem to make sure your thermostat can maintain a comfortable temperature throughout the dog days.
According to Mr.Roof.com, lighter colored metal roofing can keep your home as much as 12 degrees cooler than asphalt roofing using the same amount of energy. That means you can keep your home at a nice cool temp without overworking your AC systems all summer long! There’s no doubt that metal roofing will save you money on utility bills in the hottest months of the year!
For more information on metal roofing and temperature efficiency, chat with our Metal Roof Pros today! We’d be happy to answer any questions you may have regarding how metal roofing could benefit your home.