Vinyl Siding Variations

There are a number of reasons why you might need to replace your roof, ranging from environmental damage to plain old wear and tear. When selecting a new roof, you want to make sure that you pick the best option for your situation. This means that you want to narrow down the materials available to you until you have found the perfect fit. To help you out with that, here is an overview of asphalt as a roofing material:

What does an asphalt roof look like?

As far as appearance is concerned, an asphalt shingle roof is about as typical as you can get. If you are looking for an authentic suburban home aesthetic, then an asphalt roof will do quite nicely. There are often several colors to choose from, with greys, browns, and dark reds being the most common.

The individual shingles do create a very pleasing aesthetic, but they also do serve a purpose. Damage to your roof will usually be limited to a small area of shingles. These shingles can be easily removed and replaced, meaning that you won't need to tear up large portions of your roof to fully repair the damage.

How much will you expect to pay for an asphalt roof?

Asphalt is often the cheapest option available to you, and the savings can be much higher than you might imagine. A single square of material measuring 10 feet on each side will cost you $120-140. Other options can cost several times that, such as slate, which can easily cost upwards of $9 per square foot. This results in a total cost of over $900 for 100 square feet, which means that slate can be over 5 times more expensive than asphalt.

Of course, this only covers the actual cost of materials, so your final fee may be much higher if you need to hire professionals for the installation. If you do the project on your own, you can save some money in that respect, but you should ask around to figure out what the average installation fee is before you commit to doing it yourself.

How long will an asphalt roof last?

Although the exact number will depend on where you live and the quality of materials that you buy, you can expect asphalt to last between 20 and 40 years before it needs to be replaced. This isn't always covered by warranty, so you will want to pay close attention to exactly how long your roof is covered for.

This does mean that you will need to carefully weigh the low price of initial installment to the relatively low lifespan of asphalt. If you don't plan on having your home for longer than 20 or so years, then you can get a lot of mileage out of asphalt without needing to shell out the cash for a replacement down the road. To learn more, speak with a business like McCullers Roofing.