Year Round Roof Damage: Here’s What You Can Do

A new roof is a significant investment. Therefore, you’ll want that it protects your home and family for long years. However, every season brings particular challenges to your roof.

In this sense, we’ll show you below how you can protect your roof, regardless of the season.

Winter

You cannot change the weather, but you can protect your home from the following winter threats:

• Ice Damming - The heat from inside your home and the warmth of the sun combine to melt snow and ice on your roof. Then, the meltwater flows to the roof edges and freezes again. This situation creates a dam that makes more meltwater going back to the roof filtering through shingles’ cracks.

What can you do?

The best defense against ice damming is proper roof ventilation. Thus, ensure that any exhaust vent allows warm and moist air to escape from your attic. Also, check that intake vents enable cool air to enter.

• Attic condensation – During winter, the warm air inside your home raise towards your attic. Condensation and moisture generate when it gets in contact with the cold inner surface of your roof deck. This will cause wood rot, which is severe damage to your roof.

What can you do?

Venting lets warm air get out of your house before it reverts into a liquid. So, plug any insulation leaks on your attic floor. Besides, check if appliances, plumbing, and dehumidifiers are working correctly.

• Meltwater runoff – Snow and ice form and melt continuously on your roof during winter. Water will find any crack or opening in your roof surface. So, the process of eroding your roof starts.

What can you do?

Underlayment is a waterproof barrier that prevents melting ice from damaging the roof deck. Roofers apply underlayment at areas where water is most likely to infiltrate.

Remember: Heavy snow and ice can stress your roof, leading to leaks and an aging ceiling. Hence, before winter begins, we recommend scheduling a roof consultation with the Legend Roofs team to evaluate your roof.

Summer

• The sun is not your roof’s friend - The combination of the sun’s heat, harmful UV rays, and an improperly ventilated attic can literally cook your shingles. Under these conditions, they may weaken quickly, creating routes for water to infiltrate your roof.

What can you do?

Correct roofing ventilation is the answer again.

Heat escapes through ridge vents and cool air enters through edge vents. Therefore, the attic temperature goes down. Moreover, airflow also expels the moisture that grows with heat.

Spring and Fall

• Wind and rain - Wind can tear the shingles of your roof while rain may cause a lot of water damage.

East Coast and southern Mid-Atlantic regions can face 12 big storms yearly, on average. Moreover, most of them become hurricanes.

Likewise, Boston, the windiest city in the U.S., may experience wind speeds of 12.3 miles per hour.

On the other hand, Washington, D.C., and Baltimore, Md. each get 40 or more inches of rain each year.

What can I do?

Roofing materials make up the structure that protects your home. Thus, you should use quality materials when installing a new roof or repairing your old one due to these reasons:

• Asphalt starter shingles resist tear-off from the wind. An advanced sealant on the underside of starter shingles keeps them fixed to your roof edges.
• Drip edge wraps the edge of your roof decking to protect it. Roofers install drip edge to avoid rain and wind from getting under the shingles’ edge. The drip edge is a defensive layer against sitting water from ice dams or clogged gutters.
• Flashing impedes water filtering through the joints between the roof valley and vertical surfaces, like the base of a chimney.
• Underlayment keeps your roof decking dry.
• Hail Storms, Falling Trees, and Excess Debris - Hail storms can produce significant damages to shingles and flashing, such as:
• Loss of shingles granules
• Cracks on the shingles
• Dents in flashing, metal vents, and in metal roof valleys

What can I do?

The best you can do to prevent hail and winds’ roof damage is to employ high-quality roofing materials. Moreover, you can trim trees near your home before storm seasons.

Is your home at risk for seasonal roof damage?

Let’s talk about replacing the roof of your home. Our whole roof system is backed by a 50-year, non-prorated, transferrable roofing warranty, and a 100% satisfaction guarantee.

We build trust and peace of mind into every roofing Norman OK

• roof.

Call Legend Roofs at 405-352-7307 or contact us online today.

John is an Real state blogger and marketing manager. He maintains keen interest ongoing and development within the marketing and business space.