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Early returns on a new metal roof
07-31-2010, 04:18 PM
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#1
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
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Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: North Oregon Coast
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Early returns on a new metal roof
Last October, we put up a new energy efficient metal roof (galvalume, 26 gauge, "class 4" impact resistant which is the highest). Uncle Sam ate about $700 of the cost with a tax credit.
Well, we're three utility bills into the hell "hot season" here, and so far I can report being quite pleased.
I compared the May through July electric usage of 2009 to that of 2010. It appears that on average, the 2010 usage is about 30% less than in 2009. It has been a slightly milder summer but not *that* much so. I figured that is probably knocking about $60 a month off of our summer electric bills.
So yes, I'd say they work. 
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"Hey, for every ten dollars, that's another hour that I have to be in the work place. That's an hour of my life. And my life is a very finite thing. I have only 'x' number of hours left before I'm dead. So how do I want to use these hours of my life? Do I want to use them just spending it on more crap and more stuff, or do I want to start getting a handle on it and using my life more intelligently?" -- Joe Dominguez (1938 - 1997)
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07-31-2010, 04:27 PM
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#2
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Jun 2002
Location: Texas: No Country for Old Men
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Zig, as a comparison my usage is down 14% over the same period last year, so it looks like you can attribute about half your savings to your new roof - not bad at all.
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Numbers is hard
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07-31-2010, 04:52 PM
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#3
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
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Location: North Oregon Coast
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 Quote:
Originally Posted by REWahoo
Zig, as a comparison my usage is down 14% over the same period last year, so it looks like you can attribute about half your savings to your new roof - not bad at all.
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Good to know -- looks like the actual reduction in kilowatt-hours is just over 32% averaged over the three months, so if I use your results as a "control" and assume about 14% comes from the milder summer than last year (though as I say that we're supposed to hit triple digits for a week now and it's currently 102 here) that's still pretty good.
__________________
"Hey, for every ten dollars, that's another hour that I have to be in the work place. That's an hour of my life. And my life is a very finite thing. I have only 'x' number of hours left before I'm dead. So how do I want to use these hours of my life? Do I want to use them just spending it on more crap and more stuff, or do I want to start getting a handle on it and using my life more intelligently?" -- Joe Dominguez (1938 - 1997)
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08-01-2010, 03:07 PM
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#4
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Oct 2005
Posts: 2,203
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awesome! how does it look?
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08-01-2010, 03:58 PM
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#5
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Full time employment: Posting here.
Join Date: May 2010
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Given the savings you are seeing, what is the payback period on your investment?
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08-01-2010, 04:12 PM
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#6
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
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Interesting. I'd love to see some pictures of your roof or something similiar to what you got.
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I purr therefore I am.
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08-01-2010, 04:31 PM
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#7
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
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That's a substantial energy cost savings. Sounds like a good choice, Ziggy.
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Already we are boldly launched upon the deep; but soon we shall be lost in its unshored, harbourless immensities. - - H. Melville, 1851.
Happily retired since 2009, at age 61. Best years of my life by far!
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08-01-2010, 05:05 PM
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#8
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
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Quote:
Originally Posted by BTravlin
Given the savings you are seeing, what is the payback period on your investment?
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Given that I already needed a new roof anyway, the "investment" was only the incremental cost difference minus the tax credit -- about $1000.
I should also add that in addition to the energy savings the impact resistant roof is saving about $200 a month year on my homeowners insurance.
So I'd say the payoff is probably no more than 2-3 years out.
[Edited to fix mistake...]
__________________
"Hey, for every ten dollars, that's another hour that I have to be in the work place. That's an hour of my life. And my life is a very finite thing. I have only 'x' number of hours left before I'm dead. So how do I want to use these hours of my life? Do I want to use them just spending it on more crap and more stuff, or do I want to start getting a handle on it and using my life more intelligently?" -- Joe Dominguez (1938 - 1997)
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08-01-2010, 05:07 PM
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#9
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
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Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: Collin County, TX
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Mmmm, interesting. Now I just need a hail storm....
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There's no need to complicate, our time is short..
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08-01-2010, 05:20 PM
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#10
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ziggy29
I should also add that in addition to the energy savings the impact resistant roof is saving about $200 a month on my homeowners insurance.
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You're saving $200 a month on your homeowners....egads! My HO policy is less than $1k a year. I have $180k on the house with all the extra coverage...
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There's no need to complicate, our time is short..
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08-01-2010, 05:22 PM
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#11
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
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Quote:
Originally Posted by bbbamI
You're saving $200 a month on your homeowners....egads! My HO policy is less than $1k a year. I have about $170k on the house with all the extra coverage...
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$200 a year, I mean. Oops. 
__________________
"Hey, for every ten dollars, that's another hour that I have to be in the work place. That's an hour of my life. And my life is a very finite thing. I have only 'x' number of hours left before I'm dead. So how do I want to use these hours of my life? Do I want to use them just spending it on more crap and more stuff, or do I want to start getting a handle on it and using my life more intelligently?" -- Joe Dominguez (1938 - 1997)
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08-01-2010, 05:27 PM
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#12
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
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Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: Collin County, TX
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Oh....ok. I just about had a case of the vapors. 
That's still a great savings.
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There's no need to complicate, our time is short..
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08-01-2010, 08:01 PM
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#13
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Oct 2005
Posts: 2,203
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pics?
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08-01-2010, 08:10 PM
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#14
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ziggy29
So I'd say the payoff is probably no more than 2-3 years out.
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That's awesome! Even w/o the rest of us taxpayers chipping in to pay for YOUR new roof, thank you very much, tax credit (just kidding), it sounds like a pretty good payback.
I keep looking for low hanging fruit at my place, and I just can't find it. Furnace is +80% eff, A/C is 10 SEER, so-so but not bad since we don't use A/C all that much, insulation is OK, and I keep the thermostat at the outer edges of the comfort zone.
I'm with the fed, what does this look like? Is it the 'rolled roof' look? I think that looks great in some cases, but doesn't fit some house styles.
-ERD50
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08-01-2010, 08:26 PM
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#15
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Recycles dryer sheets
Join Date: Jun 2010
Posts: 456
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Ziggy, did you already have attic ventilation or have some added with the new roof?
We are about to have a new roof put on and hubby is researching what might be the best type. The house has vents at the eaves, but has never had any attic venting on the roof. The contractor is suggesting ridge vents.
Any thoughts or experience? These will just be the typical GAF shingles replacing the old ones.
Thanks
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08-02-2010, 07:08 AM
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#16
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Moderator
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Eastern WV Panhandle
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When we had a new roof put on the old house they put a ridge vent in. I can't say I noticed any difference in the utilities but I wasn't tracking it closely anyway. The attic was still hot in the summer.
My main concern at the time was that wind-blown rain would get into the attic via the vents and I did not see any evidence of that happening.
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08-02-2010, 08:13 AM
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#17
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: Naples
Posts: 2,179
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Our house has a tile roof and the home owners association requires that the roofs remain with that look. I was surprised recently when one of the board of directors told me that they were now permitting metal roofs. I was thinking of the traditional metal roofs used in Florida but the ones he was talking about look like tile. Being new to the area, I drove by some of the replaced roofs and you cannot tell they are metal. They must be stamped out in a die but I'll have to check further into this. Don't know anything about price difference either.
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08-02-2010, 08:17 AM
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#18
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: May 2006
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The thing I learned about ridge vents, after I had it installed, is that the mere installation of a ridge vent accomplishes nothing. Since the ridge vent is supposed to improve air flow through the attic, it has to be paired with soffit vents. And there has to be a match between how much air flow is coming through the soffit vents to how much is going out the ridge vent.
Ziggy - is this roof not going to dimple when you get some of that infamous golf ball size Texas hail?
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There is no pleasure in having nothing to do; the fun is having lots to do and not doing it. - Andrew Jackson
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08-02-2010, 08:23 AM
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#19
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: Naples
Posts: 2,179
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I should have googled first but didn't and now I found the start of info on the new style metal roofs that look like tile. The first one I found was Decra and is called stone covered metal. Looks great but haven't read all the details. It did indicate a 50 warranty.
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08-02-2010, 08:42 AM
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#20
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Recycles dryer sheets
Join Date: Jun 2010
Posts: 456
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Leonidas
The thing I learned about ridge vents, after I had it installed, is that the mere installation of a ridge vent accomplishes nothing. Since the ridge vent is supposed to improve air flow through the attic, it has to be paired with soffit vents. And there has to be a match between how much air flow is coming through the soffit vents to how much is going out the ridge vent.
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We already have the proper amount if soffits? eave vents according to the contractor so some ridge venting should help.
Thanks for the reply.
Sorry for the temporary hijack Ziggy.
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