Metal Roofing: 6 Reasons Why You Should Choose It

6 Reasons for Choosing a Metal Roof

Metal roofing has become a popular choice over the past decade. Why are metal roofs so popular? Why should you consider choosing metal if you are building a new home or replacing an old roof? Let’s take a look at the benefits you can gain from having a metal roof.

1. Metal Roofing Lasts Longer Than Fifty Years

One of the main benefits of choosing a metal roof is its longevity. While most other roofing materials wear out within 15 to 20 years depending on where you live, metal roofs last 50 years or longer, even in the worst weather conditions. This means that once you install a metal roof, you may never have to replace your roof again in your lifetime. They require little to no repair and maintenance, making them ideal for anyone who values durability.

2. Highly Resistant to Weather

Metal is highly resistant to all types of weather conditions. Unlike asphalt and some other materials, the metal will never allow for water penetration, regardless of aging. Water simply runs off. In addition, those living in snowy areas like finds that snow easily slides off their roofs, keeping it from building up. You can add that to the fact that metal roofs resist heat, and withstands high winds without damage. This makes a metal roof ideal for home or business owners in intense climates.

3. Energy Efficient

Most metal roofs are now treated with a special, sun-reflecting paint. It makes these roofs incredibly energy efficient even in hot climates. And because most roofing companies guarantee that their roof paint lasts 25 years, you won’t need to repaint your roof in order to keep it energy efficient.

4. Environmentally Friendly

While most people don’t think of a metal roof as being environmentally friendly, you should think about the 11 million tons of shingles that end up in landfills every year. You can easily see how having a long-lasting metal roof is extremely healthy for the environment. It reduces waste every single year.

5. Increases the Value of Your Home

Another reason for choosing a metal for your roof is it increases the value of your home if you sell it. Because of the longevity and ease of maintenance, prospective home buyers know they won’t have to worry about replacing the roof right after purchasing the home. They, likely, won’t ever have to worry about replacing it. They know they’ll save money, during the time that they own the home, which makes purchasing your home a good deal.

6. Cost

One of the main concerns people have is the cost. While metal costs more initially than standard roofing materials, you need to look at the big picture. Most other roofs need repairs every few years. These repairs are time-consuming and expensive. However, metal roofing will seldom need repairs, so that initial cost may be the only money you will ever put into your roof.

In addition, if you plan on living in your home for 30 or 40 years, you can expect that you will have to replace that roof at least twice during your ownership. Plus, the cost of repairing it between replacements, which will end up costing more in the long run. It costs more than having a metal roof installed in the first place. So, it really is a matter of paying now or paying more later.

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3 Ways To Make Your Home More Handicap Accessible

The 2000 Census told us that nearly 50 million Americans have some type of disability. Of this number, 6.8 million have a condition that makes bathing, dressing, and getting around their homes especially difficult. These staggering numbers are the reason so many are looking to hire contractors to make their homes easier to live in. Even if your home is not currently lived in by someone challenged by a disability, you might want to consider the following upgrades to best suit future residents if you are looking to one day sell your home.

An Accessible Ramp

Federal guidelines assist us in making the proper adjustments for a handicap accessible home. The doorway entry for a handicap accessible ramp should be no more than one-half inch in height and it should be rounded for ease of a wheelchair to get over. You might also consider the way your yard is landscaped to be more handicap accessible. Providing paths with adequate space for a wheel chair and edging the paths will make sure to keep their wheelchairs on path and your plant life off the path.

Adequate Hall Spacing

A optimally livable space for a handicapped person is having doors and hallways meet the recommendations for disability friendly homes. A 32-inch wide opening for all hallways and doors is the recommendation. Again, entries should be no taller than one-half inch and thresholds should be round for a wheelchair to get over, but also for walkers to not trip over. The recommended width for hallways is 36 inches.

Bathrooms and Kitchens

Showers are the most disability friendly ways to bathe. Including a seat will be best for anyone who lives with a handicap. Setting the hot water heater to 120 degrees Fahrenheit is recommended to avoid scalding hot water from hurting anyone. Thoughtfully selecting fixtures is also a must. Think level-operated, touch or push types, and electronically or remote controlled options.

There are a number of reasons to make your home more handicap accessible; for resale purposes, to consider your own age and how you’d live in your home if you were never going to move, or even for house guests who have a different physical level of ability than you. How does your home rate on the scale of accessibility today?

 

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Attic Ventilation Basics

If you’re a homeowner with an unfinished attic, you might not have considered that its proper ventilation is essential for your home’s optimal energy efficiency and to prevent some common conflicts.

Consequences By Season

Depending on your climate, seasonal temperature changes can cause serious damage your your home without proper ventilation. During hot summers, the temperature outside reaches 70-100 degrees or higher depending on where you live, and more importantly, your attic can reach as high as 120-150 degrees. If the attic is not properly ventilated, that trapped heat can penetrate your ceilings and keep the whole house warm in the wrong season, summer. This problem will cost you because you will run your air conditioner more to cool the house. The cost won’t end there because this additional use will shorten the life of your air conditioner unit or system.

In the winter, air they you’ve paid to heat can escape to the attic and not have sufficient ventilation and the consequence of this is the cold air outside meeting the warmth of your attic and causing condensation. This moisture is the ideal environment for mold growth and will ruin your attic’s insulation and corrode wiring and building material. If the heat inside the home causes ice or snow to melt on top of the roof and then refreeze, it can lead to the building of a dam that causes water backup and more damage to your roof.

What To Do

There are two types of ventilation that allow enough circulation and release of excess heat or moisture and they are soffit vents and ridge, box, or power vents. Soffit vents are installed low on the underside of the roof overhang. Ride, box, or power vents are placed high in the attic, near the roof’s peak and allows excess air to escape where it will cause the least amount of damage. Current recommendations are to have one square foot of ventilation per 150 square feet of attic ceiling, or per 300 square feet if there is a ceiling vapor retarded installed.

Call your local, trusted HVAC (heating, ventilation, and air conditioning) or roofing expert to evaluate the home’s current condition in this regard, and make recommendations with their estimate.

source http://beneficialroofing.com/blog/2018/04/01/attic-ventilation-basics/

Common Critters That Invade Homes

Homes often tell you when there is a problem with sounds. You can here a home’s pipes calling for maintenance or repair, walls and foundation settling, and where air is escaping in or out. But the most common sound heard in a home that needs your attention is the sounds that critters make when they are making your home THEIR home. You can annually inspect your attic, walls, ceiling gaps, crawlspaces, and other places critters love to live. Look for obvious signs of homing such as damage or odor. And always listen for the distinctive noises nesting critters make; moving, scratching, thumps, and scurries of tiny feet.

If you do discover you have an animal infestation, it’s not the end of the world and fairly easy to take care of. This article will outline some of the most common animals that nest in homes and how to go about evicting them!

Squirrels

If you are hearing sounds in your home during the day time, it’s highly likely that there are squirrels utilizing your home, too! These pests are crafty, too. They are able to penetrate your ceiling, walls, soffits, and eaves super easily. They sound like fast, scurrying noises as they run about early in the morning and again, in the early evening before the sun sets. Sometimes squirrels sound like Raccoons in the home. The distinction will be that Raccoons also make noise at night, but are heavier and slower.

Raccoons and Possums

Raccoons and Possums also make chattering, voice-like noises. Most other common home dwelling animals will not make any vocalizations at all. If your Raccoon infestation is especially loud, you might have baby Raccoons on your hands. Raccoons can also facilitate thumping noises during the night.

Bats

Bats typically make high pitched chirping noises, but it’s very unlikely to be heard by a human ear, so the best way to detect whether you have bats or not is by other means. Bats leave droppings at entrances and exits, and will, like other animals make scratching noises. They also have greasy coats that tend to leave stains around your home. You might even spot one in or outside your home!

Rats

If the sounds are light, but fast and at night, you likely have a rat or mice infestation. Sometimes, depending on your home’s layout and accoustics, a mice infestation can make louder noises than you’d suspect, but if they are fast movements, the sound is distinctly from rodents and no other creature.

Eviction

Because of the significant damage that animals are capable of and the threat posed to your health, you’ll want to take care of these home invaders as quickly as possible. Once they’ve made your home theirs, they will not want to leave for a long time, so do not put it off- even if in the dead of winter. Call a professional home inspector or animal control specialist if you still need the animal identified. Usually you’ll never be able to catch the animal with your eyes because they are so great at hiding, but a professional will know right away based solely on its scent, droppings, and possible tracks. Next, you will need to employ a professional to kick the animals out of your home for good. Together, you can do this by trapping them or exclusion techniques such as baiting them to leave through a one-way door and then sealing up any openings so they can’t return again. There are products for animal eviction, but often times they fall short of completely ridding you of your new tenants. It’s most efficient to hire a professional. They will also be aware of any wildlife that is protected in your region so that you are not harming an endangered or at-risk species.

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Planning and Sharing Your Family’s Home Evacuation Plan

Don’t wish you had shared emergency preparedness with your family after an unexpected fire or natural disaster. No matter how old your children or the state of your family’s relationships, it’s never too late to begin bonding over family meetings. To begin having family meetings, you can begin with fire evacuation and meet about other things pertaining to your family later on. Here are the main keys to hosting a family meeting regarding possible emergencies you may one day face together.

Identify Possible Emergencies

Before you can plan for possible future emergencies, you must know which kinds of emergencies are more likely to happen in your region of community. Most often, people prepare for a house fire or natural disaster involving unruly weather patterns. Write a list of possible emergencies to discuss with your family.

Draw a Map of your Home and Community

With a black pen or marker, draw a map of every level of your home. Include all the rooms, doors, and windows using lines and hash marks. If you want to include younger kids in the process, walk the home with your basic drawing and together, you can count the windows and doors and draw them in your diagram. The reason for the map of your community is to include any “safe neighbors” you’ve designated that your children can go and use their phone or meet/wait for you. You will also need to agree on a place that the whole family can re-unite after evacuating the home.

Decide where all the places in the home are that a fire may occur. Fires most likely begin in the kitchen, but include any possible scenario in your plan. Imagine how you would escape from each room in the house considering the likely places a fire would begin and spread. Using a red pen or marker, draw the escape trail and best exit (using an “X”) for each room. Also, clearly mark your community map where you’ll meet to re-unite and any other designated “safe place”.

If your region is at risk of tornadoes or other natural disasters, use another color to share best places to hide or where pertinent supplies will be kept.

Call Regular Family Meetings

You’ll have to call an initial family meeting to discuss possible emergencies and your evacuation plan, but calling regular family meetings to discuss any topics in need of attention or revisiting emergency plans, is a great idea.

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Best Bathroom Ventilation Practices

Ventilation, for the purpose of odor and moisture control, are essential to the health of your home and its residents. Here are some points to consider about your home’s bathroom ventilation systems.

Have Adequate Equipment

Bathrooms are some of the most toxic spaces in our homes; from moisture, odors, and chemicals from our aerosols and products are overwhelming to our nervous systems if not adequately ventilated. Codes exist to ensure that homeowners maintain healthy levels of indoor humidity and low levels of toxicity and likelihood of mold and mildew growth. Ventilation should be installed just over the bathtub and shower where humidity is most concentrated during use. In small bathrooms, one should suffice, but in large bathrooms, 2 or more are necessary. Bathrooms with separate bathing or toilet facilities should have their own ventilation installed as well.

Use Your Fan The Recommended Amount

It’s recommended by The Home Ventilating Institute (HVI) that you run your fan for the length of your shower and still, a remaining 20 minutes afterward. The best way to follow this best practice is by installing a timer switch that works with it. Another technology that makes this practice easier is called a dehumidistat switch that automatically turns on when the humidity level rises above its set level. With this technology, you can manually override its settings.

Utilize Windows and Natural Light

Especially during winter time you may want to take advantage of your bathroom’s natural light to warm the space. You can also use the window as ventilation and the light will work on the bathroom humidity as well. Additional ways to warm your bathroom in the winter are placing bricks along side a candle and putting an upside down terracotta plant pot over it to create your own cozy bathroom fireplace. You could also install an actual fireplace or keep a faux one in the room! Warm colors and luxurious textures also make a difference on your psyche in the wintertime. Using epsom salt, baking soda, and particular essential oils like clove and cinnamon will also cause your body’s temperature to naturally rise.

Other Odor Control Methods

One reason we love having adequate bathroom ventilation is to secure the odor that sometimes occurs in there. Keeping Poo-pourri or matches near the toilet seem to give peace of mind to the bathroom’s visitors, but you can also use Glade scented plugins or candles to do the trick, too.

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Are Gutter Guards worth the money?

Gutter cleaning is perhaps one of those home maintenance tasks that most homeowners just hate doing. However, neglecting this annoying chore is not an option either. Clogged gutters can cause severe damage to your roof, windows, and walls and you definitely don’t want that. So, is there a way to make this task a bit easy and less painful? Well, as it turns out, there is; enter Gutter Guards! Many people swear by the benefit of these nifty tools that make cleaning your gutters thing of the past. But what exactly are gutter guards and are they worth the money? Well, let’s find out!

What are gutter guards?

In the simplest of terms, gutter guards are covers for your gutters. These covers are designed to keep the debris out but allow the rainwater and snowmelt to go through the gutters. The best part is that they can be installed during the gutter installation or can be added at a later date.

Not all gutter guards are the same. There are four different types of gutter guards that you can choose to install.

• Screen-type guards are the most straightforward gutter guards that you can install as a DIY project. You can make them by cutting PVC or aluminum screening to dementia’s and placing them on top of the gutters. Just remember that these can’t keep small items such as pine needles and small leaves out.
• Foam-type guards are strips of very porous foam that can be played on top of the gutters. The foam allows water to pass through freely but traps the solids on the top.
• Surface Tension gutter guards are curved plastic covers that direct the rainwater and snowmelt into the gutters while keeping the debris out. These are sophisticated guards that need to be installed by a professional.
• Micro-mesh gutter guards have thousands of minute holes that allow the water to pass through but prevent debris. These are the best gutter covers that you can install and block almost all type of trash from entering your gutters. If you choose to install these, you will need the help of a roofing professional.

What to expect after installing gutter guards?

Although installing gutter guards can significantly reduce the instance of clogged gutters, it won’t eliminate the need to clean your gutters entirely. You will need to take some time out to clean out the rubbish from the gutter guards themselves. So, there is that.

However, gutter guards do an excellent job of preventing water damage to your roof due to clogged gutters.

For what they do, gutter guards are an excellent investment for your property. They can efficiently prevent clogged gutters and the potential roof and wall damage that comes with it. So, are they worth the money? You bet, they are!

Call Beneficial Roofing today to learn more about gutter guards and for other roofing services. We would love to work with you to find an option that works the best for you!

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