Your roof is your home’s best defense against the elements. Unfortunately, even the best roofs can be responsible for more than 30 percent of your home’s heat loss.
The more heat seeps out of your home, the less eco-friendly your house will become. This doesn’t just hurt your home’s carbon footprint—it has far-reaching effects on the environment itself.
Installing a green or living roof is one of the best ways to make your home more eco-friendly. These are just a few of the key benefits of a green roof you’ll see once you have the roof in place.
1. Lowers Your Energy Bills
Energy bills are one of the most expensive and most consistent bills you’ll deal with throughout the year. Though turning off the lights and keeping your thermostat set at the right temperature can help keep costs lower, it’s not always enough to make a dent in your bill.
Installing a green roof can help keep your energy bills lower throughout the year.
The roof itself absorbs the sun’s UV rays, reducing the severity of the greenhouse effect that your home experiences. This helps keep your heating and cooling costs lower and allows your HVAC system to work less often. The less your system turns on, the lower your energy bills will be.
2. Boosts Your Home’s Insulation
All modern roofing systems have added insulation to help keep your home comfortable. However, that standard amount of insulation isn’t always enough to keep up with changing weather conditions.
This causes different parts of your home to feel colder in winter and warmer in summer. Though it’s not particularly harmful, it can be annoying when all you want is for your home to be at your preferred temperature.
One of the best green roof benefits is that it boosts the efficacy of your home’s insulation on its own. Green roofs create an added layer of protection between your attic space and the elements. They help insulate the upper floors of the building against the weather outside without forcing you to add extra insulation in the walls or crawlspaces.
3. Protects Your Property From Runoff
If you’ve ever walked around the yard after a heavy rainstorm, you know that puddles have a way of collecting in inconvenient places. For homeowners who have tons of plants and decorative landscaping elements around the perimeter of their houses, those puddles can mean serious trouble.
Soaking the roots of your plants for extended periods of time increases the risk of mold and mildew growth in the plant itself. Once the mold and mildew growth happens, you’ll have to remove the plants and replace them with healthy ones.
Installing a green roof is a great way to cut down on the amount of runoff your property experiences. The plants and natural materials making up your green roof will absorb the excess water. Once it’s absorbed, it won’t collect in puddles at the base of your home.
4. Helps Your Roof Last Longer
Roofs don’t last forever. The materials start to break down as soon as they’re installed. The harsher the climate is, the faster they’ll start to degrade.
One of the advantages of a green roof is that the living materials help protect the rest of your roof’s structure. Instead of the sun’s UV rays hitting the roofing materials themselves, they get absorbed by the plants on the roof’s surface.
This means the support structure of your roof will experience less wear and tear over time. That allows you to avoid many of the common roof maintenance tasks while also reducing the likelihood of leaks throughout the year.
5. Reduces Air Pollution
Air pollution is one of the biggest problems that communities face each year. That pollution hurts the air quality of the area and, if it gets bad enough, can impact peoples’ health and well-being.
Plants help clean the air naturally, reducing the buildup of pollution in the atmosphere on their own.
By installing a green roof, you’ll be doing your part to help keep your community’s air cleaner and healthier. Even better, the roof will continue to do this as long as the plants are in good condition.
6. Makes Your Property Stand Out
One of the biggest challenges homeowners face is making their property stand out from others in the neighborhood. Though smart landscape designs and well-maintained siding can help, it won’t be enough to set your home apart.
According to the team at Prr247.com, a green roof is an eye-catching improvement that will make your home truly unique. It adds value to your property and makes it easier to sell your home in the future should you need a change of pace.
7. Muffles Noise Contamination
Nothing is worse than hearing everything that happens outside your home at all times of the day. You want to be able to escape the hustle and bustle so you can fully relax and recover after a long week.
Traditional roofing materials can help buffer some of the noise, but you’ll still hear the activity outside your house on a regular basis. Green roofs, on the other hand, help absorb the noises around your property.
The plants muffle those annoying noises so you can enjoy the peace and quiet in your house no matter what’s going on outdoors.
See the Benefits of a Green Roof for Yourself
If you’re trying to make your home look as unique as you are, installing a green roof is a great option. It’s environmentally friendly, affordable, and is sure to draw attention to your property at all times.
Just make sure you work with a professional roofing contractor to implement your green roof design. Once you do, you’ll be able to experience the benefits of a green roof for yourself without risking damage to your property. Going green and implementing an eco-friendly lifestyle is a great way to reduce your family’s impact on the environment. Even the smallest improvements you make can make a huge difference for your community. Check out our latest posts for more tips to help you decrease your carbon footprint.
