Attic insulation is an often-overlooked upgrade to a home that can drastically improve the energy efficiency, yet many people do not consider the cost-effective aspects when analyzing home improvement ideas.

When comparing a brand new, flashy granite countertop to attic insulation that no one will ever see, most homeowners will opt for the visible choice. However, adding a few inches of insulation throughout the attic will maximize energy usage in a big way! With a 20-inch base of attic insulation, homeowners can anticipate huge money savings year-round, on both heating and cooling bills. This is because a correctly insulated attic will help normalize temperature by maintaining cooler temperatures throughout the hotter months.

Up to 40% of heat loss through the home is through attics that are not insulated suitably, mainly because heat can escape when attics are not properly maintained. Most homes in the United States (about 90%!!!) are under-insulated, causing many people to squander power and money every month!

Call Excel Roofing today to set up a time for us to come out and present you with a no-obligation free estimate for attic insulation.

During the process of searching for the best roofing repair company in Denver, Excel Roofing’s repair department can provide the quality that consumers in Denver have come to expect over the past 19 years. For every roof repair need, Excel is the best choice here in the Denver area. Roofing repair is a fickle industry that can become inundated with scam artists, especially in markets like Denver, so it is imperative to choose the only company that can fully meet the roofing repair needs of the Front Range community. In this region of the country, wind and hail damage can cause destruction to homes quickly, and disreputable companies often take the money for roof repairs without ever completing the work.

At Excel Roofing, we do not ask for payment until the roofing repair is complete. Customer satisfaction is our number one priority, and we will not settle for sub-par workmanship, materials, or customer service. This is one way that a consumer can feel confident that he or she has chosen the right company to complete their roofing repair in the Denver area. We also provide client satisfaction surveys for each customer in the Denver area, including roofing repair customers, so that we can make certain the customer receives the highest quality of service and product as promised. Many roofers in the Denver metro area will not even speak to customers about repairs because they want to concentrate their efforts on more profitable projects.

At Excel Roofing, repairs have become an important part of maintaining a customer base that knows we will continue to serve our greatest asset- our customers. One thing that consumers can do to ensure that they are choosing the best roofing repair company in the Denver area is to check reviews. Websites exist throughout the Internet for consumers in the Denver area to get genuine feedback from customers who have had a roof repaired by Excel Roofing. When looking for the best roofing repair company in the Denver area, there is no need to look any further than Tom Martino’s Referralist. This site displays Excel Roofing in good standing since the inception of the list. Because roofing repair here in Denver is such a saturated market, we at Excel Roofing consistently strive to prove to our customers that we will always meet their needs in the best way possible.

Just like we tell our roof replacement customers, our roofing repair clients can always “Expect the Very Best!”

It’s hard to believe now, but up until the mid 1970’s, Denver home builders thought the cost of insulation was not worth the money.  Their reasoning was that energy was so cheap, it just wasn’t worth the expense to spend a lot on insulation.  Because of this, most homes built during the 1970’s and before are drafty energy wasters. We now know that a highly insulated home is cooler in the summer, warmer in the winter, and saves energy and money every month in Colorado.

Did you know that insulation has the fastest payback of any home improvement? Typically, we see homeowners lowering their utility bills 10-30%.  On average, this usually means that the investment for the upgraded insulation pays for itself within three years.  The beautiful thing is that after this time period, this cash is additional green in your wallet!

Walls can be the most difficult areas to insulate.  It’s particularly important to make sure the outside walls of your home have the highest “R” (energy savings) value possible. These are the areas where you can significantly reduce your energy costs. A lot of air leaks out of your house through the exterior walls of your home, whether they have no insulation or were under-insulated when your home was built.  Compressed cellulose wall insulation makes your home more comfortable and reduces the chances of moisture problems.  Insulating exterior walls will also significantly reduce noise coming in from the outside.

Ok, so you understand the why. Here’s the how:

First things first: before your wall insulation project begins, we make sure any penetrations like electrical outlets and light switches in the walls are correctly air sealed. Not sure if they are sealed?  No problem – Excel Roofing and Exteriors will fix this problem.

How do we get the insulation in the wall? This is the process:

1. We drill a hole between the studs in the wall.  Normally this is done on the outside of the home.  Depending on the siding, the exterior wall is usually the best place to drill, and easiest to patch, but the inside might be the best option in certain rare circumstances.
2. We then blow cellulose insulation into the walls using a special blower machine.
3. Cellulose insulation will tightly fill the wall cavity, and the wall will be properly insulated.
4. We repeat this process between all of the studs on the wall, and above and below windows and doors, which will require some additional holes, but these are important areas to insulate.
5. After we have filled all of the wall cavities with cellulose, we then patch all of the holes.  Please be aware that in most case it is not possible to totally hide the patch.  We do our best to blend the patch in; few people will ever notice them.  It is well worth this minor cosmetic detail to have properly insulated walls!

If you want to have a more comfortable home year round, and to save money every month, you should set an appointment with Denver’s Excel Roofing and Exteriors today. We offer free, no pressure home insulation assessments.

The most exciting thing to hit your roof since your neighbor’s Frisbee^®: the Eco Series Solar Powered Attic Fans.

A while back, I told you about all the great benefits having a solar powered attic fan will bring you. Like keeping your attic cool–and the rest of your home with it–absolutely free courtesy of the sun rays. But now the news is even more exciting. Because now Excel Roofing has its very own proprietary Eco Series Solar Powered Attic Fans. Naturally, named after little old me–your favorite frog blogger.

Designed to fit the size of your roof perfectly, the Eco Series 100, 200 and 300 are by far the best solar powered attic fans in the business. For starters, these bad boys are built with aircraft grade aluminum, so they can withstand the worst that Mother Nature has to throw at them. And even though they run whisper-quiet, the high-powered German-manufactured motor and the precision-balanced aluminum blades provide the highest possible output of air. In fact, these fans can completely exchange all of the air in your attic 20 times per hour!

The fans also come equipped with a thermostat that won’t kick on until the temperature in your attic reaches 80 degrees, but also kick off when it hits 228 degrees which happens to be the heat of fire. Because the last thing you want if you have a fire in your attic is a fan feeding the flames.

The solar panel that’s mounted to the top of the dome is adjustable so you can maximize the reception of the sun’s rays. But you also have the option of a remote panel, in case you’d like to place it in another spot for aesthetic reasons. Plus, we powder-coated the aluminum a light gray color so that it would be easy for you to paint. In case you wanted to match the color of your home–or mimic the look of your favorite multi-colored frog, for that matter!

Don’t worry, your frog-friend Eco is still considered the coolest at Excel Roofing. But these new Eco Series fans are definitely giving me a run for my money.

Hi there, ECO here. Now, we frogs like rain as much as any other amphibian, but this past spring and summer have been ridiculous. As you may have experienced, these storms have brought a large amount of very loud and potentially damaging hail to our region.

Big hail storms also bring another very loud, potentially damaging phenomenon…the fast-talking, door-knocking roof salesman (or sales woman). This disturbing trend is something to be aware of. There are many roofers who will go door to door telling homeowners that they “probably have hail damage” that they are unaware of. They say the good news is their company just happens to be in the neighborhood offering free inspections, and maybe even a free roof.

Of course, once this salesperson talks their way up onto the homeowner’s roof he invariably finds “significant damage.” Now, beware of this next frequent occurrence. The salesperson volunteers to work directly with the insurance company-and perhaps even cover the policyholder’s deductible. All they have to do is sign an authorization form allowing the roofer to talk to their insurance company on their behalf.

What most homeowners don’t realize is that by signing this “authorization,” they have just signed a “blank contract” with this roofer to complete the repair work, with absolutely no indication of what’s included, the quality of the materials or what the cost is.

And even worse yet, once that salesperson speaks to the insurance company, whether or not a formal claim is ever made, that contact itself is considered a claim by your insurance company.

The video below goes into more detail on how you can protect yourself from damaging your reputation with your insurance company and protecting your pocket book. Don’t fall for these sales tactics. Do your research, protect yourself and work with a reputable company that is more interested in doing the job right then just simply doing the job.

Top of the day! It’s Eco, your friendly frog-with-a-blog back to shed a little light on ways you can save a little green. Some ideas are fairly obvious. Like don’t buy an SUV that’s three feet longer than the average garage when gas prices are sky high. But other ways to save may be a little more elusive. Like the next time you put a roof onto your home, give serious consideration to using impact-resistant roofing materials.

Every year, wind and hail wreak havoc on roofs. The insurance claims register literally in the billions of dollars. Since 1980, there have been roughly 3,000 hailstorms a year in the U.S. And while 42% of those have taken place in what’s affectionately called the Hail Belt (Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska), that doesn’t mean if you live elsewhere that you’re out of harm’s way.

In fact, the state of Colorado has the most hailstorms with large-sized hail–which is classified as being over 1.5 inches in diameter. And, no, even though my eyes are pretty darned big, they’re nowhere close to being that size. For frame of reference, a golf ball measures 1.68 inches in diameter. So it’s easy to imagine anything that big pounding into your home is going to do some serious damage.

But there is something you can do to fight back. Choose any of the new breed of shingles that are specially designed to be impact-resistant. How do they know? They test them.

A scientific group called Underwriters Laboratory conducts a test called UL 2218, which consists of dropping a series of different sized steel balls onto different roofing materials to see how well they can stand up to impact. Those test results are then passed along to the American Society of Testing and Materials who assigns each product with a rating, from Class 1 all the way up to Class 4, with Class 4 being the most resistant to impact. At Excel Roofing, we generally recommend going with at least a Class 3 if not a Class 4 roofing material.

Going with a Class 4 shingle could save you from the headache of having to replace your roof after a storm–and paying that deductible.  Better yet, your homeowner’s insurance might give you a sizable discount on your premium for being hail-resistant. Hail to the discount.

We’ll delve into those numbers next time, but I best be hopping along. All this talk of hail has soft-headed ol’ me, thinking maybe I ought to invest in a little protective headgear. After all, golf-ball sized hail isn’t generally polite enough to holler “Fore!” before it comes flying in.

When I first heard the term “cool roofs,” what leapt to mind was “Hey, maybe that’s why Frisbees and wiffle balls like to hang out up there.” But then I discovered that these roofs weren’t cool as in all the girl frogs saying “That Eco, he’s so cool…”. Instead, these special roofs are cool temperature-wise thanks to some amazing new technology in roofing materials.

There are two factors that define a cool roof–solar reflectance and thermal emittance. Solar reflectance refers to a roof’s ability to reflect the sun’s heat. Today, many of the products designated cool roofs utilize innovative new granules that can reflect back up to four times more of the sun’s rays than traditional materials do! Thermal emittance, on the other hand, is the capacity for a roof to radiate heat that has been absorbed back into the atmosphere.

Cool roofs generally excel in both of those areas so that the roof literally stays cooler and transfers less heat to the building below. That naturally results in a more comfortable living space. It’ll also makes your air conditioning not have to work nearly as hard, and will save you an average of 7 to 15% on your cooling costs. Pretty cool, huh?

Another principle that helps make cool roofs cool is what I like to call the “T-shirt effect.” Everybody knows if you wear a black T-shirt on a hot summer day, you’ll be a lot hotter than you would if you opt to wear a white one instead. That’s because dark colors absorb heat and light colors reflect it.

Now that’s not to say that a cool roof needs to be white. There are a lot of “cool color” technology products that come in a wide array of hues including darker pigments that are highly reflective in the near-infrared, invisible-to-the-eye portion of the solar spectrum. Believe it or not, there are even “cool black” roofs.

So how do you know if a roof is cool? That’s where the cool cats at the Cool Roof Rating Council come in. An independent, non-profit third party organization, the CRRC rates roofing materials for solar reflectance and thermal emittance. The scale for both is from 0 to 1–with 1 offering the best reflection and emission. Those results are then published online, free-of-charge for everyone to see. To compare products for yourself, just go to coolroofs.org.  Or ask your friends at Excel Roofing about it. They’re members of the council, too.

Another frog-blog will be coming soon. In the meantime, by all means, keep it cool.

Today, I’d like to talk to you about one of my favorite things to do. And though it’s pretty darned fun, no, it’s not catching dragonflies from across the room with my freakishly-long tongue. I’m talking about SAVING YOU MONEY, which is precisely what my role is as the Manager of Green for Excel Roofing.

Now last time, we discussed how different types of roofing materials have different ratings depending upon how resistant they are to hail–with Class 4 offering you the highest resistance and best chance to weather a hailstorm unscathed. The best news of all, though, is that if you have Class 3 or 4 shingles on your home, you may very well qualify for a significant discount on your homeowners insurance. Which can definitely add up over the long haul.

In 1998, Texas was the first state to make it mandatory for insurance companies to offer discounts to homeowners with hail-resistant roofing. A homeowner with the lowest resistant rated roof (Class 1) in a part of the state with the least hail would only get a discount of 1%. But for a homeowner using Class 4 materials in that portion of the state that regularly gets pelted with hail at least 6 times a year, the discount was a whopping 35% annually. Now that’s a sizable chunk of change!

While it has yet to become mandatory in other states, a number of insurers including State Farm have voluntarily decided to offer insurance discounts in other states like Colorado and Wyoming where hail and high winds tend to be a problem.

So if you have hail resistant roofing on your house and you’re NOT getting a discount, you might want to have a heart-to-heart chat with your insurance agent. And if you’re looking into a new roof, you ought to seriously consider investing in Class 4 shingles. It could very well save you a lot of money and aggravation in the long run.  “Hail” to the homeowner who thinks ahead.

Hiya. It’s Eco, your favorite frog blogger again. As the Manager of Green at Excel Roofing, I’ve already helped plenty of people green up their wallets by saving a whole gob of money on their energy costs. So I’m tickled pink (if that’s even possible for a frog) to report that I’ve developed more than a few fans. But today I’m here to talk about a whole different kind of fan–the attic fan.

Now last time we chatted about Attic Ventilation–and how it’s important to have vents in the upper and lower parts of your attic so that your house can breathe. But there’s one key piece of the equation that’s missing. You also have to be able to MOVE that air. Which is why, if your roofing system is really going to work the way you need it to, you also need an attic fan.

Now you can certainly put in an electric attic fan. But not only do those blowhards make a serious racket, they also put a fairly significant drain on the old power bill. And that doesn’t even include hiring an electrician to run the wiring up through your attic to the top of our house. Doesn’t sound particularly green to me. And being that hue myself, I would know.

Fortunately, Excel Roofing has come up with a much more elegant solution–the solar-powered attic fan. As an integral part of any ECO System 300 Series Roof, or an option you can choose for your ECO System 200 Series Roof, Excel Roofing will install a whisper-quiet solar-powered attic fan right on top of your roof.

Then when the sun’s shining, a small solar panel instantly powers up your fan and cools down your attic. And the best part is it’s doesn’t rack up a single penny on your power bill. Zip. Zilch. Nada.

Green technology doesn’t get much better than this–using the hot sun to cool your attic! And when the sun isn’t shining, you don’t need it. Talk about the perfect solution.

Of course, if my blog words had some impact on you today, just wait until next time–when we’ll be talking about nemesis of roofs everywhere. HAIL!

Hello. This is Eco and this is the next installment of what I think I’ll call my “frog  blog.” Last time we chatted about insulation and today the topic at hand–or three-toed foot depending upon who you are–is attic ventilation. While a lot of roofing companies only care about roofs, Excel Roofing is all about systems. And yet another important piece of the puzzle in a properly-balanced roofing system is having enough ventilation.

Just like yours truly swimming around in pond, occasionally we all need to pop up and get a breath of fresh air. And your home is no exception. When the thermometer begins to climb in the summer, if you allow that air in your attic to stagnate, the temperature inside your attic can reach a staggering 160-degrees– even though the air outside may never eclipse the high 90s! Having your own little oven up in your rafters makes it a lot harder to maintain a comfortable climate in your home, puts an enormous strain on your air conditioner if you have one and, fittingly, pushes your utility bill right through the roof.

Of course, the need for attic ventilation in the summer isn’t that hard to grasp–even if you weren’t blessed with suction cups on the ends of your digits like I was. But what a lot of people don’t understand is that ventilation is equally important in the winter. Without proper ventilation, you can end up with moisture inside your attic, and a nasty phenomenon called ice dams atop your eaves outside.

Now by no means are we suggesting you that turn your roof into Swiss cheese by putting in too many vents. Because that can also open you up for more potential places that water can intrude into your home.

At Excel Roofing, we recommend a simple ventilation system, professionally installed. We meticulously place intake eave and soffit vents in the lower portion of your attic where fresh air can enter, and ridge vents at the top of your attic where the hot air can escape. So you, your family, and your attic can all breathe a lot easier.

It’s getting a little late, so I gotta go. You guessed it…club-hopping.