Wildfire and impact-resistant roofing ordinances save communities money while reducing waste

Senate Bill 26-155, signed into law in June, just gave municipalities another good reason to take proactive action to protect residents from the costs of hail storms. The law will provide grants to homeowners to help them replace roofs with impact resistant roofing, and it will prioritize grant recipients in communities that have adopted ordinances that require Class 4, impact resistant roofing.

Replacing a roof isn’t cheap for homeowners or the environment. Across the U.S., 12 million tons of shingles are landfilled every year, most of which are oil-based and contain chemicals that run off into dwindling water supplies. Colorado is in “Hail Alley,” meaning it is one of the most hail-prone states in the U.S., and as climate change worsens severe weather events, the costs to residents and the environment from shingle replacement will increase. Colorado municipalities can proactively prevent these costs through passing Class 4 shingle requirements.

Class 4 shingles may be slightly more expensive upfront compared to lesser-rated roofing, but they are much more likely to survive hail damage, and most (if not all) are also Class A, wildfire resistant, and compliant with the Colorado Wildfire Resiliency Code. Most homeowners recoup the up-front cost difference between impact-resistant roofing and lesser-rated roofing through discounts offered by insurance. Developers, however, are not motivated by insurance discounts and are not nearly as likely to use impact-resistant roofing on new homes. Since Colorado does not have a statewide building code, it is up to municipalities to implement requirements to install Class 4 shingles and protect homeowners from the cost of hail damage. The cities of Lafayette and Fort Collins have model codes that require new and replaced roofs to be impact resistant. The City of Lafayette’s roofing requirements checklist provides more information on how these requirements are enforced. 

Smart local policy can save residents money while reducing the environmental impacts of roofing waste, and the best way to manage waste is to make less of it in the first place. Don’t wait for a severe weather event to impact your community to pass a proactive, climate-resilient shingles policy. Adopting a pro-active ordinance also puts your residents first in line to benefit from the grants that will result from SB26-155.