LESLIE: Susan from New Jersey’s up next on The Money Pit and you want to talk about metal roofs. What can we do for you?
SUSAN: Hi, we own a split-level house with a walkup attic and – that we want to turn in to a bonus room. We want to finish it off. And we were wondering if installing a metal roof will reduce the heating costs; will reduce the heat command of the house and into that bonus room.
LESLIE: Oh, I think absolutely.
TOM: Yeah, you know metal roofs today have special coatings that are very energy efficient and they can reflect the UV rays back out.
LESLIE: Which’ll keep things cooler.
TOM: The old metal roofs that you think about that you might have had on the old farms and the old houses, you know, could act as heat sinks. But the new ones have these very high-tech coatings that prevent that from happening. So, putting a metal roof on actually is a very energy efficient thing to do and, in fact, it will actually qualify for energy tax credits. You know, there’s this – the Department of Energy has energy tax credits now that you could qualify for. So if you put a metal roof on your house, believe it or not, you will quality for a tax credit.
LESLIE: Yeah, and they’re so beautiful, Susan, these metal roofs. If you go to MetalRoofing.com, it’s the website for the Metal Roof Alliance and it gives you all the information that you would need about how to find a contractor in your area; it gives you different photos so you can choose all the different types of roofing that’s available that are metal. It’s a great choice and it’s really good looking.
SUSAN: I’ve got one more question about metal roofing to – what do you know about the noise factor? How noisy are metal roofs when it rains or if it hails? Has that improved over the years?
TOM: I think it’s not going to be any noisier than an asphalt shingle roof because, in general, when you think of a metal roof being very noisy, it’s typically because it’s over an unfinished space; you know, with no insulation and no drywall and minimal framing such as you might see in a shed or a barn. But when you put it on a home and you put it on properly and with the new roofs and the new coatings, I don’t think you’re going to find it to be very noisy at all.
LESLIE: Yeah, and you can even put the new metal roofs right on top of your existing roof shingles because they’re so lightweight. So I think it would be super-insulated below it and not very noisy at all.
SUSAN: OK, thank you for very much. I appreciate it.
TOM: You’re welcome, Susan. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT. 888-666-3974.
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