No matter how well-built your home is, age and weathering will eventually begin to weaken the structure and leave it vulnerable to all sorts of damage. The weight of your roofing materials can make a big difference in whether you get by many more years without needing extensive repairs from stress.
Age of Your Home
The older your home is, the more it has seen in the way of temperature changes, storms, and will begin to lose strength with each passing year. The more you weigh it down with heavy roofing composition and materials, the more likely it is that you will begin having structural problems. The foundation could seem perfectly fine, but everything above that starts getting challenged by holding up the enormous amounts of weight of some roofing materials.
The Weight of the Base Materials
The base of your roof could incorporate many types of materials. Some are based using plywood, OSB board, lumber, or lathe boards. The weight of these products alone pushing down on the wall structures can seem like a tremendous load.
How Many Layers of Materials Are On the Roof?
It is not unusual to see two layers of asphalt shingles on a roof. At 2.75 to 3.25 pounds per square foot, this makes asphalt shingles pretty heavy, especially if there are two layers. Consider the amount of stress this places on the structure of an older home.
Earthquakes and Storms
Living in an area where earthquakes are not common, but a real possibility will show the importance of considering the weight bearing down on your home and how it can affect the outcome of a natural disaster. Storms with high winds can also lead to disaster when the load is too big for your walls to hold up while under weather stress.
Comparing Metal to Asphalt and Tile
The weight of aluminum roofing is 0.50 PSF and steel weighs in at about 0.80 PSF. Compare this with asphalt shingles at 2.75 to 3.25 PSF. Clay tile is even worse at 12 to 20 PSF. If your home is beginning to age, the kinder, gentler approach to choosing replacement roofing products is to go with a durable light product like steel or aluminum.
Call on roofing experts like Clear Vision Construction and find out more about the benefits of metal roofing in Beaverton OR today!