When you need a new roof, you want to make sure that your new roof will be made out of the right material. The best way to figure that out is to talk to a roofing contractor and see their recommendation. The best way to get their recommendation is to have someone from the contractor's office come to your house. They will be able to inspect your roof, and you can ask them a few questions. Between the answers to your questions and what they find on their inspection, the roofer should be able to give you some good recommendations as to what material you should get. What are some of the things you should talk to the contractor about?

1. Material Weight

One thing you should ask about is the weight of the roofing material. This isn't something that most people think about because they just assume that their house will hold the weight up. But, the thing is, different roofing materials have different weights. Some of that weight comes from the material itself. Some of it comes from the substrate that is put on under the roofing material.

The roofer may be able to retrofit your house to support more weight if you want to switch from one material to another. For example, if you have asphalt shingles and you want to go with a slate roof, the slate will be significantly heavier, which means that your roof and the walls will be under a heavier load. The contractor will have to check to see if they think that the existing structure will support the weight of the slate or if they are going to need to do something else to support it. 

2. Environmental Friendliness

You might also talk to the contractor about how environmentally friendly the roofing material is. That can include what the material will be made of, if it will help with your energy costs, etc. For example, you can ask if any particular material is made out of recycled materials. Asphalt shingles can be recycled into new shingles, as can metal roofs. Using a material that is recycled and recyclable will help to keep waste out of landfills. 

If you are getting a new roof, you need to make sure that you are getting the right one for your house. Simply talk to a roofing contractor, have them come check out your existing roof, and ask them a few questions. 

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