Creating homes that balance form and function

By Emma Peterson. 

How you can enhance your home’s curb appeal with strategic roofing design choices. 

The roof of your home is a determining factor in not only your home’s structural integrity, but also its curb appeal. While the curb appeal might seem more trivial in comparison to the structural soundness of the home, it is actually a very important aspect of homeownership as it can increase a property’s value. In this episode of the AskARoofer podcast, Megan Ellsworth and Lauren White sat down with two experts, IKO Industry’s Jack Gottesman and RTM Roofing’s Chad Roland, to discuss how your roof plays a crucial role in your curb appeal. 

“I think curb appeal is in the eye of the beholder and as a manufacturer, it's our responsibility to make sure that we are manufacturing and making roofing materials, especially our shingles, for every person’s interests,” Jack shared. “We want to give people a wide color palette, a variety of colors across the color palette for them to put on their roof, and hopefully you have somebody with an eye like Chad, who can advise them on what's going to match their siding, what's going to match the other houses on the block.”  

While not a designer, Chad has an idea of what looks good on a home, but ultimately likes to leave the decision to the homeowner. He shared a short story about a project he worked on where a homeowner requested a blue roof, an unusual request. He explained, “There was a 92-year-old gentleman, and he wanted a blue shingle...So, we put the blue shingle on. When I went out to pick up the check, the shutters that I thought were black were royal blue, and they popped because of the shingle color.” This is a perfect example of the roof complimenting the rest of the design, which is what Jack said is the goal. He elaborated, “A roof needs to be complementary to the other aesthetic features of the home. It can at times be one of the largest parts of the home that you can see from the curb, so you want to make sure that you're picking the right style shingle, both in terms of form and function to make sure that it's beautiful and protective.” 

Read the transcript or Listen to the podcast for more about picking the right shingle for your home, both in terms of form and function.