All construction carries with it an environmental cost and roofing is no exception. The environmental impact of remove and replace, however, is considerable enough that it should be taken into consideration when choosing a roofing solution.
For building owners who are faced with a roof that needs to be replaced, there are a number of options to consider. The two most common options are removing and replacing the old roof entirely or recovering the old roof with a metal-over-metal or a metal-over-shingle recover solution. Both systems have advantages, although one of the ways in which recover offers an advantage over remove and replace is in its relative environmental impact. If you want to learn more about recover roofing watch our free on-demand webinar today.
Environmental Impact of Roof Removal and Replacement
Building owners removing and replacing their current roofs have the option of recycling their old roofs. Of course, this mainly applies to metal roofs (we’ll talk about shingles in a bit).
While recyclable, metal roofs need to be removed and transported to a recycling center. These additional labor and transportation costs are not insignificant.
Replacing a shingle roof is even worse for the environment because shingles often aren’t recycled. In fact, every year 11 tons of shingles are removed and need to be disposed of. Those shingles end up in landfills, many of which charge high fees to accept and discard them.
And no matter the type of roof being removed there is always the debris of insulation and underlayment material that also ends up in landfills.
When a roof is recovered, however, the original roof, insulation, and underlayment are all saved from landfills and costly disposal.
Learn More
Want to learn more about the costs associated with different roofing options? Check out our new eBook, Need a New Roof? How Building Owners Reduce Costs with a Metal Roof to learn more about both recover and remove and replace roofing solutions.
About McElroy Metal
Since 1963, McElroy Metal has served the construction industry with quality products and excellent customer service. The employee-owned components manufacturer is headquartered in Bossier City, La., and has 14 manufacturing facilities across the United States. Quality, service and performance have been the cornerstone of McElroy Metal’s business philosophy and have contributed to the success of the company through the years. As a preferred service provider, these values will continue to be at the forefront of McElroy Metal’s model along with a strong focus on the customer.
Topics: Education, Metal Roofing, Recover and Retrofit, Commercial, 238T Metal Over Metal, 138T Metal Over Shingles
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