Your home has plenty of options to improve its energy efficiency. From Energy Star appliances to heating and cooling equipment, efficiency has been a major leitmotif of homemakers and owners, repeated by many home exterior remodeling companies in their recent projects.
If you’re looking to become more environmentally friendly and get the extra benefits and savings from becoming more energy-efficient, then our experts at Triangle Home Exteriors have a few tips that can help you out.
Vinyl Siding
Better insulation is directly related to energy efficiency. ENERGY STAR® uses R-values to reflect the insulating ability of many different products. There are extensive and technical tests that measure this value, but the main takeaway is that higher R-values mean better insulation.
To put this in perspective, the lowest on the spectrum are brick veneers with an R-value of 0.11. Meanwhile, wood shingles take the highest R-value at 0.87. With an R-value of about 0.67, vinyl siding ranks just about in the middle of the efficiency list. Siding contractors actually find that vinyl siding performs adequately in its insulating ability, which may result in some savings on your heating bill.
Roof and Energy Efficiency
You may have noticed that wearing black or dark-colored clothing under the sun feels so much hotter than wearing light-colored clothing. This is because light clothing reflects much of the sun’s radiant energy, allowing it to heat up at a much slower pace. White is particularly good at reflecting radiant energy as it reflects all wavelengths of visible light.
Applying this concept to your roofing color choice, it’s easy to see that if you want roofs to be that much more energy-efficient, you want to pick light colors that reflect much of the sun’s energy away from your home.
To achieve this, you can choose to find contractors that do roof replacement in your local area and ask them about choosing the right colors, in addition to making use of ENERGY STAR roofing materials.
With a little help from the professionals at Triangle Home Exteriors, you can finally reach all your energy efficiency goals. Give us a call at (919) 436-3200 to schedule an in-home consultation today. We serve clients in Durham, NC, and all nearby areas.
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