There are many reasons to replace your roof, siding, and other exterior parts of your home. Often these reasons are to resolve such problems as a leaking roof, discoloring of the shingles, damaged or warped shingles, loss of protective asphalt granules, cracked or faded siding, or simply that you’re not satisfied with the overall look of the current color scheme. Many of the benefits received from replacing your home exterior are realized as being a solution to a visible problem, but there is another benefit that is difficult to detect. Besides the most obvious reasons to replace your home exterior there is one more, to improve your home’s sustainability. If your home exterior is built with outdated or worn down materials, it is likely that it doesn’t contain the more sustainable materials available today and your energy consumption is higher than it needs to be.

Sustainability? What is it?

At first sustainability was viewed as an opportunity for large businesses, but it is vastly approaching a necessity, available for everyone. For something to be sustainable it simply means to have the ability to last for a long-term. Decreasing the amount of energy consumption prolongs the life of the energy resource and having more durable building materials decreases the frequency that they need to be replaced (not to mention more cash in your pocket).

How is replacing the home exterior sustainable?

Roofing Sustainability:
As a roof wears, its ability to reflect heat from the outside and contain heat on the inside weakens. The asphalt granules on shingles not only protect the roof from harsh weather conditions, but they also help to reflect outside heat from your home. And from an inside perspective, a weakened roof is more susceptible to seeping the home’s temperature controlled air to the outside. The resulting fluctuations in temperature will cause the climate control system to operate more than necessary. Anywhere from 20-30% of heat exits a home through the roof, and with climate control system accounting for a large percentage of the monthly electric bill, it’s a necessity to make this figure as low as possible.

Added Bonus – Residential Energy Tax Credit
As an added bonus to increased energy efficiency of replacing your roof is the potential tax break you can receive. To encourage residential sustainability, the Federal Government issues a tax credit for new roofs built during the tax period of up to $500 or 10% of the cost, excluding the cost of installation. The credit is for “Any roof or asphalt roof installed on a dwelling unit, if such roof has appropriate pigmented coatings or cooling granules which are specifically and primarily designed to reduce the heat gain of such dwelling unit.” Note that not all new roofs are eligible, so it’s recommended to check with the contractor to make sure your new selection is.

Siding Sustainability:
While replacing the siding won’t necessarily cause a direct decrease in your electric bill or make you eligible to file for the Residential Energy Tax Credit, it still is sustainable because of the improvements in product longevity and manufacturing processes today. For example James Harding siding will last 2 to 3 and possibly 5 times longer than traditional siding. It’s also manufactured with renewable sand and fast growing recycled wood fibers. Many other siding manufacturers follow similar practices and offer durable products, check with yours to make sure.

Author Bio: For more information on replacing your home exterior, Contact All American Exteriors located in Minneapolis, MN. Experienced professionals for over 20 years. Minneapolis Exterior Remodeling

Category: Home Management
Keywords: minneapolis exterior remodeling, twin cities roofing company, Minneapolis siding and gutters