Orange County

Whether you’re replacing or renovating your roof, you might be ready for some upgrades. Roofing upgrades, when installed by a licensed Orange County roofing contractor, can not only add to the value of your home, but also make it more comfortable and energy-efficient. And we don’t just mean spending thousands moving from asphalt shingles to clay tiles. You can actually take smaller steps to upgrade your roof, including these five options:

1.Improve the ventilation

One of the best ways to improve the overall efficiency of your home, especially in warm climates like ours, is to improve the ventilation in your roof. Proper roof ventilation allows heat to escape out of the roof, rather than collecting in your attic and slowly warming the floors below it.

All too often, roofs aren’t properly ventilated when a home is built. This causes the attic to act as a furnace when the weather is warm, adding to your cooling costs. To keep your attic cooler, as your Orange County roofer to add soffit vents. These vents go in the soffits under the eaves, and draw cooler air into the attic. Then a vent in the top of the roof allows hot air at the peak to escape. This ensures airflow through the attic, keeping it at a cooler temperature when the weather gets hot.

2.Add insulation

Another option for adding to the efficiency of your home is to add insulation to your roof or attic. The easiest option here is blown-in insulation - a thick layer of the stuff on the attic floor. Talk to your roofer about other possible ways to add insulation that will keep the attic’s heat from warming up the rest of the house.

One possible caveat here: make sure the insulation doesn’t negate your ventilation efforts. You may need to use shields or ducts to hold back the insulation around vents, so that it doesn’t block up the vents and render them useless.

3.Opt for lower-maintenance gutters

If you’re replacing your roof, why not go ahead and look at the gutters, as well? If your existing gutters aren’t properly aligned or just need a color change and upgrade, opt for a lower-maintenance option. The latest gutters include built-in hoots, which make them practically maintenance-free. With hoods to keep debris out of the gutters, you won’t have to worry about cleaning out your gutters a few times a year.

4.Reflect the sun

In sunny SoCal, one of the best choices you can make is a roof that reflects the sun. Reflective options include galvanized metal and light-colored roofing shingles. These materials bounce the sun’s light back away from your home, helping to keep it cool.

There are a myriad of high-efficiency sun-reflecting options on the market today. Talk to your Orange County roofing professional about the options available for your particular roof. This can be one more step to keep your home cool in the hot summers, which can, in turn, add value to your home as a whole.

5.Add some texture

What if you’re looking for a visual upgrade that will boost your home’s curb appeal? The easiest way to achieve this goal with your roof is to move from a flat surface - like a traditional shingle roof - to a surface with some interesting texture. Again, there are plenty of options that will achieve this goal.

Chances are that your roof takes up quite a bit of the overall square footage of the outside of your home. In fact, it could be up to half of what people see when they pull up on the curb, depending on the design of your roof. So one of the simplest ways to add curb appeal to your home is to add some appeal to your roof.

There are plenty of ways to do this, including upgrading to a tile or slate roofing option, or choosing a roof in a unique color. But one of the best options for upgrading the look of your roof is to talk to your Orange County roofing contractor about architectural shingles.

There’s a reason that clay tile roofs are some of the most popular options here in Southern California: they’re very energy efficient. These roofs are energy-efficient in both cold and warm climates, but they’re particularly well-suited to the hot SoCal air. Here’s why you might want to talk to a roofing company in Orange County about this roofing option:

Extra air makes for a cooler roof

The main reason that tile roof of any sort is cooler for your home or business is that it traps air. The curved tiles don’t sit right on the roofing underlayment. This means that air gets caught in between. And air is a surprisingly good insulator. It keeps heat from conducting from the tiles themselves to the interior of your home, which keeps the roof cooler.

Opt for cooler colors

While traditional tile roofs are red, they don’t all come in that color these days. Today, you can get clay or concrete tiles in a variety of colors, including cooler colors. These cooler colors - like light gray or even white - reflect the sun’s rays.

One of the benefits of installing a tile roof on your home is that they’re virtually maintenance-free. But “virtually” maintenance-free doesn’t mean the same thing as totally maintenance-free. You still need to do some maintenance with your clay tile roof - or hire OC roofing companies to do it.

Luckily, maintaining a clay tile roof is relatively simple. Here are the steps you should take to keep yours in excellent shape:

1. Inspect regularly

First, make sure that you regularly inspect the clay tiles on your roof. This is especially true after a storm or strong wind. While clay is very durable and not likely to break, it does happen sometimes. And you definitely want to replace a broken tile as soon as possible, before more damage occurs.

If you do notice broken, slipped, missing, or chipped tiles, be sure that you call a qualified Orange County roofing company, like Luke Roofing, Inc. to fix the problem. Clay isn’t as simple for DIYers to fix as asphalt shingles.

2. Power wash

Like all roofs, you definitely need to be sure that you keep your clay tile roof clean. Dirty roofs invite all sorts of problems - from nesting critters to mold growth. So make sure that you regularly clean your roof, especially if it gets debris on it from nearby trees.

One of the easiest ways to clean your clay tile roof yourself is with a power washer. Power washing can be done in an afternoon. If tiles are growing algae, rinse them in a special roof rinse that will break down the algae without harming the environment around your home. Talk to OC roofing companies about how best to wash your roof.

The Pros and Cons of Orange County Roofing Materials

Until you build a custom home or re-roof your existing home, you might not even think about all the types of roofing materials that are available today. But take a cross-country road trip through America, and you’ll see many different types of roofing materials - metal, asphalt shingles, clay, cedar shake shingles, and more.

Orange County homes can use any of these types of roofs, but before you choose your ideal roofing material, you need to know the pros and cons of all of your options. Here are the pros and cons of the most common Orange County roofing materials:

Asphalt shingles: Because they’re easiest to install, about ¾ of American roofs are covered in asphalt shingles. They come in a variety of colors, and they’re less expensive than other types of roofing materials, costing between $50 and $150 per 100 square feet.