Homeowner Tips
The Texas Homeowner’s Guide to Roof Maintenance
If you live in Austin, San Antonio, or anywhere in Central Texas, your roof is working overtime. Between...
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It’s a common sales pitch: “a new roof will pay for itself in energy savings.” The claim isn’t pure marketing, but the real answer depends on what kind of roof you install and what condition your old one was in.
The biggest energy factor isn’t the roof material itself, it’s reflectivity. So-called “cool roofs,” which use reflective shingles or coatings to bounce sunlight rather than absorb it, are the category with the most solid data behind it.
According to the Cool Roof Rating Council, a cool roof can cut cooling costs by roughly 7% to 15% in warm climates like Central Texas. ENERGY STAR-certified roof products are recognized for reducing peak cooling demand by 10% to 15%, and in warm climates that reduction can reach as high as 40% under the right conditions.
A Department of Energy-supported study examined cooling energy savings across 11 U.S. metro areas and found average net savings of about $15 per 1,000 square feet of roof area. The Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, which led that research, also found that raising a roof’s Solar Reflectance Index from 25 to 40 can lower surface temperature by more than 13 degrees, translating to noticeable cooling savings over a summer.
If your current roof is 15 to 20 years old, energy loss often has less to do with the shingles and more to do with what’s underneath. Degraded insulation, poor attic ventilation, and gaps around penetrations let conditioned air escape and heat pour in, regardless of the material on top. A replacement is often the first time these issues get addressed in over a decade, which is part of why homeowners notice a difference even without choosing a reflective product.
Not necessarily. The Cool Roof Rating Council notes that cool roofs matter most in hot, sun-heavy climates and provide the least benefit (or can even add a small heating penalty) in cold northern climates. For Central Texas, where cooling costs dominate the energy bill for most of the year, reflective options are genuinely worth considering, especially paired with proper attic ventilation.
A new roof alone won’t guarantee a dramatically lower energy bill. But a new roof done right, with attention to reflectivity, ventilation, and insulation, can produce real, measurable savings backed by DOE and ENERGY STAR data. If you’re weighing a replacement and want to know what would actually move the needle on your energy bill, talk to our team about your options.
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Guidance designed to help homeowners and property owners make informed decisions.
Homeowner Tips
If you live in Austin, San Antonio, or anywhere in Central Texas, your roof is working overtime. Between...
Read More