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Are you losing energy through your roof and attic? If you’ve found that your energy usage keeps going up year by year, you may have an issue with the energy efficiency of your home. Your roof is often the most likely source of these issues; you just need to consider a few things before you start the repairs.

1. Determine Whether Your Roof Is the Main Culprit

Many things can cause a home to lose energy. Whether you feel cold throughout winter or warm throughout the summer, there are some easy ways to tell whether you’re losing energy primarily through your roof.

In the winter, look at your roof compared to your neighbor’s roofs. Does yours have less or more snow? If your snow melts very fast, it means that you’re losing a lot of heat energy through your roof. You will know if your roof has this problem because the lack of snow will be readily noticeable.

In the summer, you can call in a professional to look at your home through a heat gun, which will reveal the colder areas of your home. If your roof looks colder than the surrounding areas, that’s a bad thing, not a good thing. A cold roof means that all of the precious cold air from your AC somehow escapes your home through the roof instead of staying inside where it belongs.

Picking a material for a new roof can be a challenge. Many factors can come into play. You need to select a type of roof that is durable, energy efficient, and well-suited for your climate. Knowing each variable to consider can help you decide on the best roofing material for your needs.

Color Affects Energy Efficiency

Color and energy efficiency are directly linked. Dark colored roofing materials absorb heat. In warm weather climates, this heat absorption can cause the attic to become heated. In the middle of the summer, a dark roof can force the home’s HVAC system to work much harder than necessary to maintain a comfortable temperature.

Light colors reflect light, which can help keep the shingles (and the attic) relatively cool. Many homeowners shy away from installing white shingles. However, light gray, light green, and beige are all popular shingle colors that can simplify indoor temperature regulation.

You probably know by now how siding adds value to your home — it improves its appearance and energy efficiency. Advances in technology have led to so many material options, including vinyl, aluminum, and fiber cement. Of those, vinyl is probably the most popular, with aluminum being a close second.

That said, wood continues to be a favorite material in construction, including in siding. Find out if wood siding is a good idea for your house.

Woods for Siding

Manufacturers utilize different woods for the fabrication of siding.

Cedar is a very popular wood choice for siding because it offers gorgeous graining. A hardwood, cedar is also naturally resistant to rot and insect infestation because of oils found in the heartwood. Redwood features a similar profile and is also used for siding. Both redwood and cedar are considered luxury siding options.

Pine, spruce, and fir are considered affordable siding options. All three typically come in long boards for board-style siding. None are as hard as cedar or redwood. However, all three types of wood are easy to stain or paint.