Your roof’s job is to do more than just prevent you and your family and things from getting wet from the rain, or cooked under the sun, so don’t let it fall under the weather and eventually break apart.
But tending to your roofing isn’t as simple as its design and purpose. People don’t really know—or even ask—about the kind of preventive maintenance necessary to keep your roof in tip-top condition to avoid easy wreckage, such as holes that lead to leaks. Your roofing system should be taken care of regularly; after all, weather is often bearing down on your roof without any sign of stopping.
From falling debris to moisture to just the heat of the sun, these are just a few of the reasons that your roof deserves proper maintenance like any other part of the building or home.
Not only do you want to maintain it for its purpose, but for the aesthetics of your home, too. A clean, well-maintained roof is just the cherry on top that shows you’re a responsible homeowner that never compromises. The aesthetic of your home ties into its practical uses just as much, so you have every reason not to let your home or your roofing system degrade with the changing seasons.
With regular, careful maintenance, you should run into fewer and fewer problems with your roof. Gone will be the threat of a sudden leak or breakage happening at the most inconvenient time of your day!
But different types of roofs have different methods required to take care of them in the most effective way possible, so keep reading—especially if you’re new to roofing.
The First Step to Prevention is Awareness
The easiest and most obvious (but easy to overlook) preventive measure you can take for your roofing system’s well-being is a simple visual inspection. After all, you may think that everything is doing fine from a distance, but upon closer inspection, you might see a good number of issues that can spell disaster in the long run.
How much you actually need to give your roof a visual inspection depends on the material it’s made of, but it’s always a good idea to see if there are any damages after certain weather catastrophes such as heavy rains with storms and lightning, nearby fires, or even volcanic eruptions. Even if there’s no volcano nearby, the ash that’s scattered around from the resulting eruption may find themselves piling up on your roof.
During that routine inspection, check for any holes, cracks, rust spots, missing shingles, and other sorts of small damages that can accumulate. Sealant issues are also a particularly nasty problem you must look out for, as those are highly likely to require immediate attention. Remember that you can save yourself a lot of trouble if you keep a checklist of things you find on your roof—be it problems or materials needed for repairs.
It should be easy enough for just about anyone to maintain a roof by themselves. DIY tasks like clearing debris and such don’t always need an expert, as opposed to something more delicate like sealing off small cracks.
Removing water and performing damage assessments after a massive storm can be done by just about anyone, but if the damage is too high or you’re not sure about something you see, calling for expert repair services or roofing/building contractors before installing a replacement is your next step. You can even ask for practical guidance as well as a step-by-step program you can follow that’ll surely prolong the lifespan of your home.
Traditional roofs require a simple, but vital, step in the program, which is to check for any missing shingles. This is easy maintenance for an asphalt shingle roof, but it should never be taken lightly, as it isn’t easy to locate any brittle pieces without lifting them from the surface.
As it stands, a simple, strong wind can blow the shingles off and make holes, so if you’re noticing cracks on your roof, it’s time to call a professional roofing contractor. Ideally, you want to make a check every time there’s been a particularly heavy storm that passes by in your area. Even without any rain, the winds of a storm can pull shingles off and cause serious trouble down the road.
Despite its simplicity, you should still take such roof inspection seriously, and try not to be too lighthearted about it.
The last type of commonly used roof is referred to as a flat roof, and it’s important to keep in mind that these are heavily affected by poor insulation, which often leads to bloating. Make sure to check the roof for any bloating spots during any routine check-up, but try not to do it by yourself, as flat roofs are highly hazardous when damaged and are susceptible to structural failures that could cause serious injury. You’ll have to contact your local repair contractor for a free estimate of the damages to the roofing system and necessary repair work.
Lastly on our list are metal roofs, which are easier to maintain while boasting higher durability compared to the other materials you may come across. But even with this durable material, accumulating debris and the damages they may cause is reason enough to keep up with regular maintenance.
An experienced roofing contractor or repairman will have the best sort of guidance necessary for any restorations and adjustments that may be required after any catastrophes or inconveniences that leave your roof in bad shape.
Surface Cleaning
General cleaning and maintenance are usually enough to help with any prevention of roof issues, ensuring enough ventilation for your system to keep damages at a minimum.
We’ve talked a bit about the different types of roofing materials and what they need in terms of routine maintenance, and cleaning is the next step in keeping your roof looking and acting its best.
Thankfully, washing your roofing system is one of those simpler, easy-to-do steps in maintaining your home’s integrity. Kept clean and free of debris that add to the roof’s weight and punch holes, the life of your roof will go a lot longer without needing any expensive or intrusive repairs.
Something as seemingly harmless as loose gravel, leaves, and twigs can build up to an issue of leftover water on the surface of your roof, causing damage that weakens the overall structure of first itself, and then your house altogether, in addition to allowing the perfect home for the growth of mold.
Drainage and Leaks
Drain cleaning is adjacent to keeping the surface of your roof clean, as the drainage system is responsible for clearing water off your roof after rain. If it’s clogged, or if debris such as twigs and leaves prevent the water from being carried down back towards the ground, you’ll quickly find yourself with backed-up gutterwork, accumulating debris, and moss because of a neglected gutter, promoting damage and degradation of your roofing materials.
You should also make leak prevention a top-priority maintenance step in your program. At the start, these are nothing more than minor inconveniences, but they can quickly build into a major issue that threatens the overall structure of your home—or at least major parts of it. They are easily preventable and should not be overlooked, as a general inspection can show spots of degradation where leaks are highly likely to stem from.
There are many ways for repairmen and your local roofing contractor to help with this issue, such as waterproofing barriers and roof deck prevention. This sort of maintenance is also connected with drainage care.
The main takeaway we want you to leave with is the lesson that regular inspections and cleanings are the key to maintaining longevity of your roofing system, no matter what material you’ve chosen for your home.
