Should you make roofing a priority this year?

So here we are in a new year and the question comes up. Should you make your roof a priority this year? And the short answer is yes. Many times we probably don’t think too much about our roof at the end of the day. It’s probably an after thought. But at the end of the day, all of our loved ones and valuables are stored under one roof and if something goes wrong with your roof, everything inside will be affected.

The same question goes with everything. If you wait too long to do something, the problem will continue to get bigger and bigger and soon your problem will be much bigger then it was before and you will be paying much more then if you would have gotten it done at the right time.

The first thing you should do is eyeball your roof from your yard. Usually you can tell if your roof is pretty worn down from down there, but usually even driving by you can tell as well. Here are some major things you should look for to determine if you need a new roof or not:

Curling or Cupping Shingles: A curling shingle is usually the result of improper shingle storage. This would usually be done before installation. Or it could potentially be from excessively dry asphalt shingle bases, very poor quality materials or just natural wear and tear. When shingles start to curl, they will no longer be able to keep water from staying outside of your home.

Missing Shingles: The fact of the matter is, shingles can only protect your roof and whats inside it if they are all intact. When one or 3 or 5 is missing, it is basically obsolete. The most common ways shingles can be pulled off your roof is either by strong winds in a severe thunderstorm, repeated thawing and freezing or falling tree branches. But if you have not had any of these three problems and they are still coming off, it is likely they are just really old and nearing the end of their life expectancy.

Decaying Shingles: The fact of the matter is, all roofing materials will eventually get old and deteriorate. But will it happen all at once? No. Some shingles may start looking older and wearing down faster then others. Decaying shingles though are fairly easy to look for. If you see splitting, cracking, chipping, peeling, curling or blistering of the shingles, that is a tell tale sign that they are decaying pretty quickly.

Blistering Shingles: When gas or moisture builds up inside a shingle it can cause the surface of the shingle to bubble outward, known as blistering. Blistering can be caused by a poorly ventilated attic, leaf build up or simply natural roof aging.

Damaged Flashing: What is flashing? It is a layer of metal sheeting installed at either a joint or angle on your roof which prevents water from breeching the top of your roof. The most common place to find sheeting is around your chimney.

Rotting: Let’s just face the music. If your roof is rotting, chances are that the problem is fairly obvious. If some shingles are rotting but not the others, chances are the the others will be soon to follow as well. Rather then wasting your valuable time and money, you better just bite the bullet and replace your entire roof before the problems gets any worse and water will start to get into your home.

Poor Workmanship: Unfortunately, sometimes the problem can simple be that you had a shady company work on your roof and did a very poor job at it. The signs of poor workmanship is excessive patching, shingles that dont match or line up. Years ago it was common practice to just install the new roof on top of the old roof but that is not longer acceptable. A poorly installed roof will usually mean a much shorter life span as well.

Age: If you can’t spot the rest of these but lets say your roof hasnt been done in 20 plus years we would say it is a good time to get a new roof just because of that reason. Your roof wont last forever and if you wait too long problems will arise.

The problem has been spotted

So the list of issues to look out for has been outlined and you have determined a problem. What’s next? Obviously we would think you would want to protect your investment, your home. The ideal thing to do every year is to have your roof inspected by a reputable roofing / home exterior company. So why should you have your roof looked at?

Find water damage: Sometimes water damage wont even be visible inside your home, so how would you even know you have a problem? Bingo. Having a company to inspect your roof for potential water damage could be a lifesaver. Discovering it sooner rather then later will not completely save you from spending money to get it fixed, but longer you go without fixing it the more expensive it will become.

Don’t wait to do your roof repairs: Usually minor damage will require minor repairs which will equal minor costs. But just like water damage, the longer you wait to fix the situation the bigger the problem will get costing you more and more money.

Insurance Claims will get easier: Once you make the decision to have your roof inspected and once it is completed, that roofing company will put together a list about the condition of your roof. This will in due time make the insurance claims easier to file.

Take care of your roof: As always, make sure you take care of your roofing by making sure branches from your trees are trimmed back away from your home, your gutters are cleaned out and you don’t have any branches laying on your roof or weeds growing out of your gutters. These simple steps will help keep your costs down long term in the future and that is something we can all be thankful for.

Conclusion

So we are going to go back to our main question here. Should you make roofing a priority this year? And the answer is yes. We have outlined several different problems of interest you should look for. These would be very easy to spot as a homeowner. If none of these ring true for your home, you should be able to rest easy. But if one or more of these problems are spotted on your roof, you should call the professionals to conduct an inspection. And if anything, this blog post could be a great resource to look at down the road for the next year you decide to take a look at your roof. And of course, if you don’t feel safe checking out your roof yourself, or if you happen to have poor vision, just give Rooforia a call at 402.281.2891 and we’d be happy to check it out for you!

Question

So our million dollar question to you is...How long has it been since you have gotten your roof checked out? Do you have any of the problems listed above? Have you ever had them in the past and what did you do to solve your problem?

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