How a New Roof Can Lower Your Cooling Bills This Summer

Keeping your home cool never used to be a major issue in this country. We’ve traditionally been concerned with keeping the place warm enough, but the climate’s changing. The UK has already officially had three heatwaves this summer, and we’re all beginning to invest in ceiling fans or air conditioning.

These gobble up energy, though, and with prices as high as they are, you want to keep your bills as low as possible. For many homes, there’s a longer-term fix — installing a new roof.

Improving Roof Insulation

We normally think of insulation as keeping heat in, but it can also be effective at keeping it out. However, many roofs — especially in old properties — have very inadequate roof insulation. This may be either because the original materials weren’t up to modern standards, or it may be that the materials have deteriorated.

While new insulation can be installed under the existing roof, having a new roof offers the opportunity to more thoroughly upgrade the insulation. Rigid foam boards or reflective underlay can provide an effective heat barrier, whether you’re keeping heat inside in winter or outside in summer.

Installing a Cool Roof

As well as insulation beneath your roof, modern roofing materials offer the opportunity to have a “cool roof”. This means that roof itself limits the heat that gets inside in the first place, reducing the amount that the insulation needs to catch.

Reflective metal sheets can be effective, or tiles and slates can be coated to make them more reflective. On the other hand, simply replacing traditional tiles with light-coloured ones can create a cool roof.

Improving Roof Ventilation

If your roof was installed before summers began getting hotter, it’s possible that not much thought was given to ventilation. Effective roof ventilation will help expel the hot air that accumulates in the attic, preventing it from radiating down into your living space.

If you’re having your roof replaced, this is the perfect time to update the ventilation. Roof vents and ridge vents can be built into the design, or you can even install solar-powered fans, improving the air circulation with no energy cost.

What Are the Advantages of a More Energy-Efficient Roof?

Replacing your roof with a more energy-efficient structure offers the twin benefits of reducing your bills and reducing your carbon footprint. With less heat entering your home, you won’t need to use your fans or air conditioning as much, and that could make a huge difference.

Besides saving you money in the short term, this can also increase the value of your property when you come to sell it. Energy efficiency is growing in importance to buyers, and improving it could enable you to raise your selling price.

Give Empire a call to find out more about how we can provide a new roof to lower your cooling bills.