A roof that doesn’t perform its function of shielding the interior of the house is a roof that either needs repaired or replaced. As a homeowner, it’s easy to forget the roof because it’s on the exterior and you don’t tend to notice it as much as other pressing house repairs.
However, in order to avoid your roof collapsing, you need to watch out for signs that there’s a problem with it. This can be done by following roof maintenance tips such as keeping your gutters clean and making sure no tree branches are close enough to damage it.
Whether it’s residential roofing or commercial roofing that has given you food for thought, you can save yourself a lot of money and stress if you simply inspect the roof in question from time to time. Carrying out roof inspections every three or six months will help you to avoid a serious problem in the future.
In order to help you know what to look for when you’re examining your roof, here are five giveaways that there’s a problem.
Seeing the Light
‘Seeing the light’ is an expression that usually indicates experiencing a revelation of some kind. Seeing the light is not something you want to happen when you go into your attic and look at the roof from inside it, however. If you see even the tiniest pinprick of light coming through into the attic, there is definitely a gap or a hole somewhere and this is a telltale sign that there’s a problem with your roof.
Flashing
Flashing are thin pieces of non-porous material that help to keep your roof leak-proof. Your roof is always going to have vulnerable spots including the chimney area and near the vent pipes. These places are vulnerable to water damage so flashing is used to bolster the roofing material in order to prevent this from happening.
It is usually made from a rust-resistant metal such as aluminium or stainless steel. If there’s a problem with your flashing, then there’s almost definitely a problem with your roof.
Leaks
If you live in area where there is rain, a leaking roof is easy to identify because you’ll soon be standing in a room, equipped with pots and pans to catch the water leaking through. Leaks that come through the ceiling in a house that only has one story is a sure sign your roof needs to be repaired.
Related to this, if you haven’t lived in your home for a long time and notice stains in the ceilings, chances are that during previous rainy seasons the roof leaked through into the house. This is another sign that your roof needs fixed.
Shingles
If your roof has shingles, the condition of them will tell you a lot about the general condition of the roof. Curling shingles, for example, is a giveaway that there’s a problem with your roof. When you’re carrying out an inspection on a roof that has shingles, make sure you fix the area that has curling shingles immediately.
Wear and Tear
First of all, you need to think about how long you’ve lived in your house or owned your commercial property. When buying a property, it should be inspected for damage, so hopefully this was what you did when you bought the residential or commercial property. If you did, that’s a good start because you can at least have the peace of mind of knowing that the roof was fine when you moved in.
If not, you will have no way of telling how old or in how much disrepair your roof is. The age of a roof is a really important factor for all home or business owners to consider, because each type of roof only has a limited guarantee. The length of time your roof will be in good working order depends on the material that was used when building it. For example, asphalt roofs can last from fifteen to thirty years depending on whether the asphalt is standard or architectural (premium) grade.
Many factors determine how long your roof will last, including the color, type, and quality of material, as well as the conditions of the climate in your vicinity. As a general rule of thumb, economy materials, dark-colored roofs, low-pitched roofs, and a roof sitting on top of a poorly ventilated attic will all have a lower lifespan
If you know how long your current roof has been there, and you know the lifespan of different materials, this could be a giveaway that your roof needs replaced due to general wear and tear.