Roofing Your Home - What Will You Choose?
It's a great time to be building a new home, or re-roofing your existing residence. Why? Because never before have there been so many exciting options and choices for the adventurous homeowner. If you look down your street or drive around your neighborhood, you're likely to see house after house roffed by architectural asphalt shingles, and there's nothing wrong with that. Shingles, after all, have stood the test of time, and are durable, flexible, attractive, and relatively low priced.
 But, with all the new roofing choices available, shouldn't you just take a little time and research a few? After all, you may just find one you fall in love with. Take corrugated or standing seam metal roofing, for example. Available in a wide variety of colors and textures, metal roofs have come a very long way since the days of the old tin roof. Steel can be beautiful, and it certainly is long lasting. It's even possible for the average homeowner to install a metal roof, after a little self study, and with a little help from knowledgable friends. As DIY projects go, this one is certainly doable, but still a challenge.
Slate is another material that makes an absolutely gorgeous roof. Choose carefully though, because not every home will look good with slate. In the right situation, there's nothing nicer. You should know, however, that beauty has it's price. Slate can be up to five time the cost of other roofing materials, but can also last up to five times longer. Consider carefully.
Concrete and clay tiles are exciting choices, and both are exemplary roofing materials. In larger metropolitan areas like Chicago, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Dallas, Atlanta, and Boston, more and more homeowners are choosing to cover their homes with these very long-lasting - albeit heavy - roofing tiles.
Of course, with the incredible array of colors now readily available, architectural asphalt shingles shouldn't be ignored. Cedar shingles and shakes, too, are really good looking on the right type of house. These common shingle types are manufactured by companies like Certainteed and Owens Corning. Metal roofing, on the other hand, is made by firms like Timberline.
As you can see, there are simply too many choices in residential roofing to simply go with the old standby without at least looking around. Take the time to compare, get prices and costs, and go into buying a roof armed with all the information. And don't forget to at least consider adding a solar componenet to your new roof, to save energy and money for years to come.
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