In today’s world, the abundance of options is huge. So now whenever you approach a certain product or service, you commonly will notice that there are more than 2 or 3 different products or services in the same area.

So how should I guide my thoughts when I’m interested or in need to purchase something? And how should I identify whether this is a good deal or not?

Today I will cover this in regards to most essential home products. I’ll take you a step at a time to cover these products and to carefully outline the essentials you should ponder in each section. Let’s start with what I consider the most important part of your home.

The Roof:

The Roof is probably the most important thing about your home, without a roof there technically is no home. Roof jobs may seem annoying or tiring or even a big deal to many people when in fact if done by a proper roofer, it shouldn’t be a pain. But here is what a lot of homeowners and consumers do not know.

Nothing is perfect, and as much as we all hate that but it is the truth. So, don’t expect a perfect product for a perfect price. It is simple math because one plus one is two, there is no other answer. Keeping this in mind lets identify the layers of the roof in terms of the importance of quality.

Most residential building in California have shingle roofs or tile roofs but that depends on how much money you intend to put on your roof as well as the location of the house and whether it is under an HOA or not (Home Owners Association) however most of what is under the exterior layer is the same.

Let’s start from the skeleton, the first and most important layer is the plywood, or if your home has not been upgraded since the 1900s then you probably still have regular wood or wood sheets which were very common in the old days but weren’t as easily manufactured as plywood today. This is the most important layer because it is the backbone of your home. If your wood is not strong enough or dependable enough to carry your roof then it does not matter the quality of the rest of the roof layers, makes sense, right? Even in plywood, some options do have a different effect on the house, not only in terms of maintaining structure but also to maintain the energy efficiency of the home. Why is this important? Because if you are going to spend money in one direction you have to make sure this will affect more than one direction. Especially now most consumers pay money with no actual return on that money in certain products or services whether they pay by choice or kind of have no other option. Which where we have the option of regular plywood which comes in different prices and qualities or radiant barrier plywood which is a product that has an extra foil-like layer that helps reduce environmental factors on the interior setting of the home.

The second most important layer would be the underlayment. The Underlayment consists of two very thin sublayers that are nailed on top of the plywood which is the water barrier and the heat barrier. As you have probably figured out from their name, the water layer is to prevent leakages during rain whilst the heat barrier blocks the heat on hot sunny days.

Moving on to the next important layer is the final exterior layer, this layer has more than one type of product in a variety of price ranges as well, for example, you can have a flat Torch-down roof which is made of composites and has to be heated on the underlayment to stick, this may be one of the least quality roof jobs but only because it tends to be the cheapest option. On the other hand, you have the average American consumer shingles, this layer is of much higher quality, comes in different colors and materials as well and also in different thickness, all this helps the end consumer or homeowner have better quality with not that expensive prices along with the aesthetics options they may feel more comfortable towards, these can be either composite shingles or asphalt shingles. The expensive product in this layer, however, would be the Tiles. With Tile roofing, you have a huge amount of options that just are made to have that very unique house look, the type of house that you would notice whilst passing by. Tiles vary from metal tiles to clay tiles and everything in between most probably. Tiles, however, are not as efficient as the shingles when it comes to energy efficiency.

Other roof components that may affect your home are things like the attic vents, older houses have the mushroom vents which is the most common type of vents you may have noticed, but these are not really up to date. The purpose of having an attic vent was to cool down the attic on a hot summer day so that you don’t have to crank up the air conditioner and fully unleash the utility bill for that month. And as much as this shouldn’t be something that is taken into consideration in this era, elders still abide by that mentality which may lead to some of their children following the same path without actually being educated on these things. You see with technology; you can have vents on the roof to help cool down the shingles and your attic with more efficiency as well as more aesthetics. These new vents create a cross-breeze on the roof to maintain the exterior layer temperature from heating up as it once did, but nothing is free!

Other products for all home solutions that I will cover in the next articles may include Solar Panels, Windows & Doors, Attic insulation & Air Sealing, and Wall & Floor Insulations.