While a roof is an important piece of protection for your home, that doesn’t mean it needs to be boring. There are dozens of roof accessories to choose from to improve the curb appeal of your home or further achieve your desired aesthetic.
Shingles to Make Your Roof Interesting
We’re going to start this list off with perhaps the most obvious roof accent — your shingles. Unsurprisingly, shingles come in many shapes and sizes, and knowing your options when selecting can help round out the vision for your home.
High profile ridge: This high-profile ridge is a thick, dense type of shingle that adds dimension to your roof while offering greater wind and impact protection. While standard low-profile ridge caps still meet manufacturer specs and city code requirements, this upgraded option is one of the more functional roof accessories available. As a 4-ply asphalt cap, it not only enhances curb appeal but also provides better protection against the elements.
Solar Reflective Shingles: If you live in a hot climate, these shingles are a popular type of roof accessory designed to reflect infrared radiation and keep buildings cooler. This, in turn, helps reduce energy costs and saves you money on your electricity bill. You might hear them called “cool shingles” or “asphalt shingles.
Ridge Caps: If your roof features a high ridge, you’ll likely need ridge caps, which are an important type of roof accessory that protects this exposed area. Ridge caps are pre-bent to match the angle of the roof ridge and are typically made from asphalt. Without this protective roof accessory, the ridge line would be vulnerable to rain, snow, and wind, increasing the risk of weather-related damage.
Roof accessories Bring Natural Light in Through Your Roof
When designing a home, many people focus on bringing in as much natural light as possible. This is supported by numerous studies highlighting the positive effects of natural light on health and overall well-being. To achieve this, there are two primary roof accessories that can help bring natural light into your home: skylights and sun tunnels.
Skylights: This is essentially a window, but on your ceiling, cut through to the roof. They do not open for venting, as a typical window does. They’re installed with transparent or translucent glass or plastic. Skylights come in a few different styles, including:
- – Tubular
- – Ventilating
- – Fixed
Sun tunnels: Also known as a tubular skylight, or a light tube, these are less of a cutout window on your ceiling, and more of a tube of light in the roof funneling light into a specific area of the house.
Roof Decor for the Edge of Your Roof
If you weren’t already overwhelmed with options, there are even more roof accessories available to enhance the edge of your roof.
Fascia Boards: Fascia boards are thin boards intended to run along the entire edge of your roof to hold the gutter in place. You have a couple options when selecting the material for your fascia boards (and the material choice can make or break your exterior aesthetic):
- – Wood
- – PVC
- – Composite
- – Vinyl
- – Aluminum
Decorative Brackets or Corbels Under the Eaves: What you choose to support your roof eaves can actually enhance the overall appearance of your roof. Transform a plain roofline into an eye-catching architectural upgrade with brackets and corbels underneath the roof eaves. You can opt for a decorative bracket, whether in color or design, or corbels to place beneath the eaves. The example below is an image from ThoughtCo.
Functional Roof Accessories That Improve Performance
Finials: If you’d like to add something to the point of your roof, such as a gable, then you’re looking for a finial, also called a spire. This ornamental metal work can be shaped to whatever your imagination dreams up.
Colored Roof Coating: If you have asphalt shingles on your roof, you have the option to paint the shingles in a color of your choosing. This is usually a 100% acrylic coating created to seal your shingles off from weather damage.
Reflective Coating: Similar to colored coatings, these roof coatings are types of roof accessories made from acrylic, silicone, polyurethane, or reflective minerals.”
Ridge Vents: Ridge vents are an important type of roof accessory that create a long continuous line along your roof to help properly ventilate the attic. They blend seamlessly into the roof and can be customized to match the overall aesthetic of your home
Turtle Vents:Turtle vents are box-shaped roof accessories typically placed on the backside of your roof to encourage proper airflow and reduce moisture buildup.
Roof Accessories Beyond the Roofline
Splash Blocks: The downspout of your gutters may dump onto a splash block, a useful roof accessory that helps direct water away from your home. Splash blocks are typically made of plastic or concrete and have a rectangular shape.
Soffit + Siding Ventilation: Placed beneath the eaves of a roof, this is a type of vent that allows movement into the attic to decrease moisture buildup. The image below is from Woodbridge Home Solution’s website and is an excellent depiction of soffit.
Closing
Whether you’re a home design aficionado or simply looking to make some visual upgrades, there are many options to explore when it comes to building a protective roof with some aesthetic appeal. Get in touch with our team today to see what might accent your home best and stay within your budget.
