When we are looking for the right roof for our newbuild home or a reroofing project we tend to make decisions too fast and too superficial. With a little more thinking and research we can make a smarter purchase with this major investment.
Often people pick their roof based on the roof tile profile, colour or the roofing material based on its reputation among their friends or simply based on the most friendly price tag / m2. There is so much more to choosing wisely one of the most important element of our home. We have collected 5 questions that help you to avoid the usual pitfalls many home owner fall into and buy the right roof for you money, which you do not regret later. Let’s see these questions one by one!
1. Can this roof protect my home in the long term?
Your roof must not only face today’s average weather but the nature’s extremes as well, which may occur caused by the climate change. XXL hailstones, hurricanes can strike any region in this day and age not only exotic countries, just think of Slovenia hit by natural disasters in the summer of 2023. Extreme times call for extreme measures. Therefore we must ensure that the roofing material and technology is up for the extreme challenges. Popular roofing materials like clay and concrete are fragile and can be easily broken by large hailstones or dislodged by high wind. Low quality ashpalt shingles cannot last for long decades because even UV rays can damage its protective qualities after a few years. In the market besides traditional products there is a special roofing material the stone coated, corrosionresistant steel that can provide with extraordinary protection against all those threats in the long run.
2. Am I picking this roof because it is cheap or because it is smart investment?
A roof purchase is a major investment. Something we do not want to spend our money on once again in our lifetime. Thus, it is crucial that we resist the temptation of low roof tile / m2 prices.
Otherwise we may fall into the trap and not much longer than 10 or 15 years we must again invest in a new roof. Shouldn’t we want to spent that money on a great holiday instead? Let’s be smart today so that we do not regret a cheap roof purchase tomorrow.
GERARD roof offers you 50-year weatherproof warranty thanks to its superdurable material and installation technique.
3. How will this roof look after a few decades?
When something is new, it is shiny, sexy, in one word irresistable. But in case of a roof we want it to appear the same way after 20, 30 years. It plays a key part in the appearance of our house after all! It is not only about how we feel but the property’s street appeal and let’s not forget (even if it seems impolitely early and inappropriate now) in the long run the resale value of our house will matter a lot. GERARD Roofing Systems stands out with natural stone coated tiles that are superlight, strong yet look as beautiful as any roof regardless the material it is made from. Furthermore, the multi-layered coatings, UV protection technology and special light-fast pigments provide superior resistance against environmental fading and discoloration so your home looks good for longer (link to: https://gerardroofs.eu/en/blog/the-secret-ingredient-of-gerard-s-beauty-natural-stone-chips). Testing shows that aluminum-zinc coated steel roofing materials have up to eight times the corrosion resistance of other steel roofing products.
4. How much shall I care for roof maintenance?
The ideal roof requires no maintenance after every summer storm. Highwinds will not dislodge the roof tiles, which otherwise would need fixing or replacement, hailstorm will not damage the roof surface driving us into significant maintenance costs.
If we do not want to climb onto the top of our house regularly or call for an expert for fixing and replacement jobs then we must consider carefully what sort of roof we will buy.
GERARD’s strong steel resists easily the physical impact that comes with hailstones and the unique 8-point fastening technique holds every single roof tile in its place with 8 robust fasteners. There is a reason why this low maintenance roof is called worryproof roof.
5. Is there a roofing solution ideal for reroofing?
Last but not least, for many the most essential question is, when it comes to roofing, the best roof replacement solution. Under the current economic circumstances many people postpone newbuild projects but the reroofing is inevitable if the roof can no longer sufficiently guard our home against weather. For roofreplacement the weight of the new roof can be vital especially if our old roof structure cannot hold heavy roof tiles (e.g. concrete, clay). The featherlight metal roof tiles from GERARD weigh only one seventh of heavy traditional roofing materials that can be gamechanging for some reroofing projects.
After carefully studying these 5 important questions of roof selection we may come to a different conclusion in a shop next time being puzzled by the wide range of roofing tiles.
Written by Jože Trpin
Technical Coordinator, Europe
GERARD Roofing Systems
