Your roof is a great opportunity to make a dramatic statement to the world. This colorful creation is going to sit atop a unique, custom home, and no matter what material you choose it’s going to look awesome. There are more choices on the market today than ever before, and an extra investment will probably make a bigger impact here than elsewhere in your home. Even asphalt shingles have taken on a new personality. Here are some varieties modern technology has made available to us (my cost estimates are very broad, and only meant for comparison’s sake).
Asphalt (or Composition) Shingles: (also known as three-tab shingles) The most commonly used shingles, these are made from a mixture of asphalt and fiberglass. The ceramic granules protect the asphalt from the sun’s UV rays. We tend to buy them according to life expectancy, which starts at 15 years for the thinnest shingles, 25-30 years for the next level. Their lifetime depends on the environment and how well the roof is vented. This roof will cost around $50-$150 per 100 square feet.
Laminated Fiberglass Shingles: Also called architectural or dimensional shingles, this shingle is still made from a mixture of asphalt and fiberglass, but is built much thicker, giving it a more three-dimensional look. Architectural shingles make the roof look more textured, are larger than a standard shingle, and come in an amazing variety of shapes. They are usually guaranteed for 40 years and could easily cost twice as much as standard asphalt shingles.
Metal Roof: Metal is one of the more sought-after roofing materials for log homes. Usually made of steel, aluminum or copper, the most commonly discussed metal roof is the standing seam – sometimes called vertical panel – roof. You can also get metal shingles that resemble cedar shakes, slate, or tile. There are several advantages to using a metal roof, not the least of which is its fire resistance. These roofs are also remarkably lightweight, and stand up to hurricane-force winds. This roof will generally cost about $100-$600 per 100 square feet (very big range of materials and composition). Life expectancy is anywhere from 30-50 years up to 100 years.
Cedar Shakes and Shingles: The difference between a Cedar Shake and a Shingle is that, generally, the shingle is sawn on both sides and the shake is hand-split on one (or both) sides. The shake tends to be thicker. Cedar looks picture-perfect when installed, and will age to a beautiful gray, given the right environmental conditions. However, it is prone to moss and mildew, and the shingles have been known to curl. To combat their inherent vulnerabilities, many brands are treated to prevent mildew, and others are treated for fire retardancy. The average life expectancy is about 25-30 years and could cost $400-500 per 100 square feet.
Concrete Tiles: You’ll find a lot of concrete roofs in Europe. Needless to say, they are incredibly durable and fire-resistant, and because concrete takes stain so well, you can find it in up to 50 colors. Of course, this is a hefty solution for a hefty home: figure out about 1000 pounds per 100 square feet. Concrete roof tiles come in several profiles, and have a life expectancy of about 80 years and can cost around $200-400 per 100 square feet. There will be extra expense for beefing up the rafter system to support the weight.
Clay Tiles: When you mention clay tiles, most of us think of the half-round shapes on Spanish Mission buildings. Think no more! Clay tiles are flat, interlocking, rectangular, slabs… and of course barrel-shaped. You can get them in solid colors or blends, textured or smooth. Figure about 1000 pounds per 100 square feet. They have a life expectancy of about 50 years, and can cost $400-$500 per 100 square feet.
Slate: Complex, durable, and beautiful, slate has a life expectancy of 60 -125 years, and more. Your standard slate is about 1/4″ thick. The slates are overlapped so that the bottom edge of the slate is actually covering two additional layers, and less than half of the slate is exposed. This standard thickness will weigh about 750 pounds per 100 square feet. Modern variations of slate roofs are: Rubber Slate (post-industrial waste) and Engineered Slate (marble dust and polyester resins). A real slate roof can cost up to $1000 per 100 square feet installed.
One of the things I’ve noticed over the years is that lighter colored asphalt shingles have a tendency to streak as rainwater washes down the roof. Even my dark green roof is streaking in one spot, although the green masks the darker stain. Before you decide on a color, do yourself a favor and drive around the neighborhood; look for other houses with similar shades. Then you can make a decision as to what’s more important: how your roof will reflect or absorb the heat, or which one looks better over the years.
By: Mercedes Hayes
Posts Tagged ‘Log Homes’
Design Your Log Home For Resale
March 22nd, 2010
Almost every log home owner who sells their home will tell you that when they built the house, they planned to live there forever. Because custom log homes are so personal, we sometimes design for aesthetics and forget about practicality. This isn’t always a good thing! Life sometimes gets in the way, and the owners find themselves in a position where the house must be put on the market.
The budgetarily-challenged log home owner will be willing to live without certain things for the sake of getting the project finished, but you will discover that the next owner will not be so forgiving. Here’s a list of items that any Real Estate professional will recommend if you want to get your house sold for the most money:
GARAGE: This is a big one. Very few buyers are willing to buy a home without a garage. If you can’t afford one right away and plan to build a detached garage later, make sure you set aside a convenient space near the house, and don’t use it for anything else. If the buyer can visualize a future garage, this will make the purchase easier.
CENTRAL AIR CONDITIONING: We all know that log homes are cooler in the summer than framed houses. However, this doesn’t matter to a buyer who is accustomed to central air conditioning. There is a large percentage of folks who will walk when hearing that the house is not air conditioned. In fact, our mortgage company made sure central air was in the design before approving our construction loan. If you can’t afford to install the whole system, it would be advisable to at least incorporate the ductwork into your design for future installation, so it doesn’t have to be retrofitted.
FRONT DOOR: I find, these days, that lots of designs with big decks tend to minimalize the front door, reducing it to the status of a side entrance or eliminating it altogether in favor of glass doors that open directly into the great room. But I’ll tell you: buyers are very disconcerted when they can’t find the front door. They walk around the house looking lost. Something is missing. This is a very personal choice, but doing away with such a major feature is taking a big risk.
COAT CLOSET: I see a lot of log homes without a place to hang your coat. Again, it’s not a crisis, but it can be a big annoyance.
FIREPLACE: Everyone expects a log home to have a fireplace, or at least a wood stove. This can easily be a “deal breaker”. If you can’t afford the fireplace right away, at least try to design the foundation with footers to accommodate the weight at a later time.
BASEMENT: I strongly advise you not to settle for anything less than a full basement. If you are building in an area where basements are expected, anything less will be a huge problem. First of all, the wiring in exterior walls will be run from the basement (or crawl space). Secondly, you’re probably giving up your attic if you have a cathedral ceiling, so where are you going to store everything? Even a healthy 5-foot crawl space is considered inadequate by a buyer. There is just no compromise.
TINY LOFTS: People like a loft they can put furniture on. Narrow lofts that run along an upstairs wall full of doors can be disappointing.
Designing for expansion is always the best way. Some plan a space for a future elevator when stairs become a challenge, or use wider doorways for a possible future wheelchair. It’s a lot to think of when your biggest worry is staying within budget, but if you plan ahead for your eventual old age, you might accidentally be making your house easier to sell when other opportunities come along.
By: Mercedes Hayes
Custom Log Home Design Ideas
December 29th, 2009
Custom log home design ideas can be used to help create the dream log home you’ve always wanted. Perhaps you have some custom log home design ideas on paper as you’ve been collecting design ideas. That’s a great way to plan and organize your ideas, by making a scrapbook of the things you may want in your log home design. Here are some tips for custom designing your log home:
1. Explore and Select Your Log Home Style – select the log home style that you really want and like, a style that excites you. Will you prefer the manufactured or handcrafted log home style? Manufactured log homes are made with logs that are milled into a desired shape, producing uniform logs without taper. The logs used generally range in length from 10 to 18 feet. A custom log home design using manufactured logs can vary considerably in shape and appearance because the logs have different shapes and there are different corner styles. You can obtain kits ranging from just the logs and fasteners to more complete systems that include the roofing materials, doors, windows and even more.
A handcrafted custom log home design means handcrafters will strip the bark off of whole logs. Using special skills and tools, the handcrafter will fit each log into place. Handcrafted custom log home design and construction is labor intensive, and the construction process takes longer and usually costs more since so much work is done manually. This method attempts to preserve the natural shape of the tree, and each log is carefully trimmed and shaped for a specific location in the log shell. The logs may be assembled at the company’s yard, the pieces are numbered, taken apart and shipped to the homesite to be reassembled.
2. Visualize Home Traffic Flow – a good way to create a custom log home design is to take floorplans you like and pretend you’re coming home, entering and moving around in the home. Come in the front door — where will you place your coat? What do you see in front of you as you enter? Which way to the kitchen and pantry if you are carrying groceries? Visualize sitting in the living room or family room. Will you be entertaining guests? Is having a fireplace high on your list of priorities? Try to note where the bathroom or bathrooms are located. As you finish your shower, where are the towels hanging?
Another helpful exercise when visualizing custom log home design is to examine the things that you like about where you live now. What things would you like to keep and what are things you’d like to change and have in your new home? For example, perhaps you’ll want a much larger kitchen. Pay special attention to the kitchen work triangle — the distance between the sink, refrigerator and range or cooktop. Each one of these areas becomes a focal point in the kitchen and forms the three points of a triangle with different distances between them. Done correctly, proper custom log home design in the kitchen gives you the most efficient food preparation area layout. Walk through each room of the floorplan and see how the room feels and functions and how its location seems in relation to other rooms.
3. Plan Your Home Orientation and Layout – when creating a custom log home design, pay attention to your site and how the orientation of individual rooms will be done. Locate the bedrooms towards the cooler, nighttime north. Place your kitchen facing the east to catch the early morning sun. The living room and recreational room can have a kind of transitional orientation, facing the warm noon south sun. And the dining area can be oriented towards the late afternoon western sun. Natural light, window placement, orientation and views are powerful positive factors in human health and the comfort of your new home.
A great way to learn custom log home design ideas is to view log home plans that have been successfully built already. Use the speed of the internet to view plans, plans that you enjoy. Every plan that you review can give you custom log home design ideas that you had not thought of. Instead of trying to create brand new plans from scratch, you can save considerable time and money if you can find great plans that have already been built successfully somewhere. This means the plans will work. Just be sure the plans service can make the changes to the plans so they become exactly what you want. That way, you really can create the custom log home design that will provide you many years of enjoyment.
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By: David Buster