LESLIE: Janice in Iowa, welcome to The Money Pit. What can we help you with today?
JANICE: I was wondering about putting a steel roof to replace a regular shingle roof.
TOM: OK.
JANICE: What are the advantages? Is it a good thing to do? And just put it over the top of the old roof.
TOM: Yes, certainly it’s a real good idea to install a metal roof. The metal roofs today are …
LESLIE: Mm-hmm.
TOM: … really nice; are beautiful; they’re high-tech. The finishes on them actually can reflect the heat of the sun back out so they’re a little cooler than asphalt shingle roofs and you don’t have to strip the original roof off. You can go on top of that.
The only disadvantage is that it’s pretty expensive. You know, it’s going to be two to three times the price of an asphalt shingle roof but …
LESLIE: Is the website, Tom, MetalRoofingAlliance.org?
TOM: I think it’s just – you know, it might be MetalRoofing.com. Let’s check that out for you.
LESLIE: Because it’s a great website and they show a lot of different examples as to the different types of metal roofs that are out there on the market. I mean if you’ve got a Victorian home you can have sort of those fish scales shingles. You can have something that looks like terracotta tile. They’re going to last 50+ years. They’re practically maintenance-free because they’re so durable. And from a green standpoint, you don’t have to worry about disposing of the existing roofing tile that’s already there because, you know, it’s so lightweight it can go on top of it. And they really do look fantastic.
JANICE: And I understand there’s an energy thing; like there’s a benefit to your taxes if you do.
TOM: Well, I don’t know about the taxes but I know that there are finishes on the metal roof that make them more energy-efficient. And that website is, Janice, MetalRoofing.com. Great site from the Metal Roofing Alliance and got lots of photos there and information about the different metal products.
JANICE: OK. MetalRoofing.com. Thank you.
TOM: You got it. Janice, thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT.
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