“You literally can’t tell that our roof isn’t regular shingles from the road. In fact our neighbors are all shocked to find out our new roof is metal. I’m thrilled that we found a product that looks like conventional shingles but will last for our lifetime. I’m 71 now and Ed’s 73 and we hope to still live here a lot longer. And while there might be still more remodels in our future, we know we won’t have to touch our roof again!”
Shortly after their marriage 49 years ago, Ed & Mary Hayes moved into their new home. And believe it or not, they’ve never moved. Mary shares, “We’ve done quite a few remodels to the house over the years because we like to keep things looking nice, but it’s always been home. The next thing on the radar was a new roof. We weren’t having any problem with our asphalt shingle roof but knew it was just a matter of time before we had to replace it again.”
While many homeowners move mindlessly toward shingle replacement every 15-20 years, Mary’s husband, Ed, thought differently. She recalls, “He had encouraged me for years to consider metal roofing. We have quite a bit of metal roofing and siding on our farm buildings and it works great for that. But I always told Ed I didn’t want our house to look like a machine shed.”
What Mary didn’t realize is that today’s metal roofing products are much more sophisticated than they once were and are no longer used for just barns and machine sheds. Cool Roofs owner, Todd Meinhold is working hard to change that perception in his local market and his message is being heard. Mary shares, “About 6-7 years ago, we were watching TV one night and saw the Cool Roofs ad. The commercial that night opened my eyes to the fact that we could get all the great features of metal roofing without giving up the residential appearance that was important to me."
While the appearance was very important to Mary, Todd’s ad that night had one more message that she and Ed found really intriguing. She recalls, “His slogan was ‘One and Done’ meaning that a metal roof would last a lifetime. After being constantly faced with shingle replacement for 49 years, we really liked the idea of it being our last roof!” With Mary finally open to the consideration of a metal roof on their home, Ed seized the opportunity to move her toward the product that he had wanted for years. They soon took a drive to the Cool Roof office in Roanoke, IL and met with owner, Todd Meinhold. Mary shares, “He was very honest with us about the benefits of metal roofing and what he said just seemed logical. It wasn’t really much more money than a good quality asphalt shingle. Especially with the price of oil these days and the fact that you have to replace those types of roofs all the time so we were pretty intrigued.”
For the next few weeks, Mary & Ed considered making the switch to residential metal roofing. As they were visiting with their son one day, they asked his opinion. Much to their surprise, not only was he onboard but he also shared another benefit that they hadn’t considered. Mary explains, “He’s a State Farm agent and he told us we could even save money on our homeowners insurance if we went with a metal roof since they aren’t as susceptible to fire and wind damage. I think we save like $200 per year on our insurance. While that’s not a lot, it adds up. And the fact that insurance companies offer a discount just added to our confidence about the durability of the roof.”
After that conversation, Mary & Ed decided pretty quickly to move forward with metal roofing and haven’t looked back since. In addition to the long life expectancy and low maintenance, they’ve also been thrilled that the temperature of their home is more comfortable. Mary shares, “It’s simply amazing how much warmer our house is in the winter and how much cooler it is in the summer.
We don’t have air conditioning in our upstairs. In the past, we had to move our bedroom downstairs in the summer, but since we put our metal roof on it’s comfortable to sleep upstairs all year round with only a ceiling fan running. Todd told us that would be a big benefit for us when we met with him and he was absolutely right!”
While the decision to move to metal roofing just made logical sense to the Hayes, their neighbors weren’t so sure. Mary recalls, “There were some naysayers for sure. Everyone told us it would be noisy. The noise inside is no different than what our shingle roof was. People also told us that we wouldn’t be able to get connection on our cell phones. And that hasn’t been a problem either. Other folks told us hail would be a problem. We’ve had it on now 6 years and we’ve had some pretty major hail storms but no damage at all to our metal roof. “
When asked what her favorite part of having a metal roof was, Mary is quick to reply. “You literally can’t tell that our roof isn’t regular shingles from the road. In fact our neighbors are all shocked to find out our new roof is metal. I’m thrilled that we found a product that looks like conventional shingles but will last for our lifetime. I’m 71 now and Ed’s 73 and we hope to still live here a lot longer. And while there might be still more remodels in our future, we know we won’t have to touch our roof again!”
%20(002).png)
