The changing of roofing materials in today's modern custom homes

Modern Day Construction for custom homes Part 6

In today’s modern world of construction things are changing year to year faster than they did decade to decade in any other previous time period. In this multi part series I will traverse through an entire house starting with the foundation and working my way up to the roof and then to the finishing’s. I will explain what has changed in the last twenty years in custom home building.

One thing that you should be able to take away from this is how important it is to not just hire the right general contractor to build your custom home but how important it is to hire one that is up on today’s building methods.

Here are some changes that have come along in the last 20 years alone;

Roofing materials

Twenty years ago, roofing materials were mostly asphalt shingles. Other less popular materials were cedar shingles and steel roofs.
Today’s roofing material have gone through some changes, but not as many as you would think in 20 years. The staple of most houses built toady is still asphalt shingles. With ever changing weather conditions today’s shingles are lasting shorter and shorter amounts of time. Asphalt shingles (either from the weather or from poor manufacturing) are not lasting as long as they did 20 years ago. This is pushing more and more people to more expensive alternatives to get longer life for their roof. Here are some of the new products people are using and some of the materials that have been around for a long time but have been advanced;

• Enviroshake. This is a roofing material that has been manufactured from recycled materials and plant extract waste material from ethanol manufacturing plants. They are formed to look like cedar shakes, right down to the wood grain that is stamped in them. It is installed the same way that cedar shakes are installed but have a 50 year warranty. They go on black and fade in 6 months to a silver finish that makes them look like a cedar shake. Cedar shakes do not have the longevity that they used too. Enviroshakes are slowly becoming closer to the same price as what it costs to have a cedar shake roof, but they are still more expensive at this time.

• Steel roofs. Steel roofs do not look like a barn roof anymore. There are so many different looks to steel roofs now days that with a little research you should be able to find the style and colour that fits you and your new home. With standing seem steel roofs becoming ever more popular you can now have steel roofs without the look of industrial or agricultural roofs. Steel roofs now come in a wide variety of colours and the paint has a life time warranty. A steel roof should last your home a lifetime. Steel also has the ability to withstand high winds and impact from debris and low hanging tree branches. UV doesn’t seem to have a negative effect on the steel or the finished paint.

• More and more custom homes are covering the roof completely in Ice and Water shield. This is a peel and stick membrane that gives your roof a watertight seal even after the roofing material fails. Twenty years ago they did one row as the norm and it was installed at the eves. Ice and Water shield works by coating the nails or screws that penetrate it with a waterproof coating creating a perfect watertight seal.

• Houses are now having a vent strip installed across the peak, they are then shingled over. This replaces the standard 3 or 4 roof vents. It gives the roof a clean look and adds more square footage of venting to help the roof breath.

• Starter strip and valley flashings used to be painted steel or straight galvanized steel. Today they are aluminum. This allows an easier installation because the aluminum is lighter and doesn’t rust like steel. You can now get aluminum starter and valleys in a variety of colours to help match the roof colour.

• Typical asphalt shingles are slowly being replaced by shingles that are made with fibreglass backing. This is supposed to allow the shingle to stand up to higher winds. Because shingles are failing quicker in the harsher weather, shingle companies have come out with a premium option for asphalt shingles. These premium shingles are 2 or 3 times thicker than the typical shingle and they also cost a fair bit more. Theses shingles have longer warranties and seem to be able to stand up longer to harsh weather then the cheaper conventional single ply shingles.

Look for part 7 coming soon...

Rob Abbott
Operations Manager
Village Builders Inc.

Foundations, Waterproofing, Piers, Modern day construction changes to custom home building

Modern Day Construction for custom homes Part 1

In today’s modern world of construction things are changing year to year faster than they did decade to decade in any other previous time period. In this multi part series I will traverse through an entire house starting with the foundation and working my way up to the roof and then to the finishing’s. I will explain what has changed in the last twenty years in custom home building.

One thing that you should be able to take away from this is how important it is to not just hire the right general contractor to build your custom home but how important it is to hire one that is up on today’s building methods.

Here are some changes that have come along in the last 20 years alone;

Foundation:

Twenty years ago the most common foundations were block and poured concrete walls.

Today there are numerous different types of Insulated Concrete Forms or ICF’s. ICF’s are two pieces of insulation that are held together with a plastic web, you pour concrete down between the insulation to create the wall. This gives you an instant insulated high performance foundation wall. ICF’s are sound proof, weather proof, bug and rodent proof and are actually fire proof.

Poured concrete walls are still used because of the cost savings compared to ICF’s but block walls are almost never used in custom home construction. Resent changes to building codes have made using poured concrete walls more expensive because of the amount of insulation that you are required to have on the inside of the walls.

Waterproofing:

Twenty years ago the common thing to do was to tar the outside of the foundation to damp proof it.

Today we use a stretchable waterproof membrane that has a dimple board that overlaps with a filter cloth attached to the outside of it for added protection. This makes the foundation walls completely waterproof instead of just damp proof; also this new product does not dry out after 15 to 20 years like tar does. Tar can be damaged when tree roots or stones rub against the foundation, the new dimple board that is installed over waterproof membrane acts as a guard against these natural hazards.

You are not able to install a tar layer over any ICF foundation wall. Those using membranes become the only way you can waterproof a high performance wall like an ICF.

Piers:

Twenty years ago the common thing to do was pour concrete into sauna tubes. If the pier required heavier support they either framed a plywood box and filled it with concrete or built it out of concrete block after framing and pouring a footing for it to sit on.

Today we use preformed footing tubes. They are made out of a hardened plastic in the shape of a giant bell. They flare at the bottom to act like a footing. The advantage to this is that you can bury the whole tube without having to first fill it with concrete. This way you don’t have to worry about when the inspector is going to come around to make sure that they are at the proper depth. The old sauna tubes where made out of a paper product and would collapse if they got wet from either ground water or rain. These new “footing tubes” even have depth markings on the outside of them so that the inspector doesn’t have to pull out their tape.

Look for part 2 of Modern Day construction coming soon...

Rob Abbott
Operations Manager
Village Builders Inc.