Quote:

Am I right in assuming that the use of exterior building materials such as ash felt and wood are, by and large, for economic reasons? Even if the home-owner doesn't plan on staying in the property for 20+years, the resale price will take into account the condition of the degraded roof (or 'siding' for that matter). What is the reason for building with something so "short-term", concrete tiles would be a better bet, surely? Perhaps asking the structure to bear the additional weight is a cost factor here?


House prices are generally based on (1) location, (2) location, and (3) location. And sometimes on the yearly taxes, square footage, proximity to schools and transit, and acreage of property. Roof condition is seldom a factor, unless the shingles are visibly curling and broken.

I'm being pessimistic on both the HOA fees, and the roof lifetime. Our particular house here (no such thing as HOA around here, either!) has the cheapest variety of asphalt roof shingles. They were 10 years old when we bought the house, and that was 20 years ago. I might replace them (finally) next summer, after 31 years or so.

The weight of heavier materials should not be an issue -- our winter snow/ice loads far exceed that. But the brown curvy tile roofing that is common in hot climates is not suitable for general use here. The wet freeze/thaw winters would crumble it to dust in a year or three.

I don't know anything about cement roofing, other than the curvy tile stuff.

Slate material is not readily available here, so it is not often seen or used.

The better alternatives here, are sheet metal roofing (should last 30-50 years), metal shingles (they exist, but are hard to find), or perhaps plastic roof tiles (relatively new here). There are also better grades of asphalt shingles that claim 40 year lifespans, and are priced perhaps 3X the 20 year shingles.

Cheers


Edited by mlord (31/10/2007 01:40)