Like most homeowners, you want your current roof to stay in great shape for as long as possible to ward off the need for early roof replacement. However, you may not know how to protect your roof from seasonal hazards that can lead to roof damage. Now that summer is here, you need to be aware of the most common summer roof problems and how to prevent these problems to help keep your roof in good condition.
Read on to learn about two of the most common roof problems that occur during the summer and how to prevent these problems when possible.
1. Roof Sun Damage
While some roof materials are very sun damage resistant, others are not. Roof materials that tend to develop more sun damage than others include asphalt shingles and wood shakes.
When the sun’s hot UV rays beat down on asphalt shingles, shingles become hot, and the moisture within them can begin to evaporate. As shingles heat up and dry out, they can begin to crack, warp, curl, and shrink. Sun-damaged asphalt shingles cannot protect your roof decking and your home from the outdoor elements, including rain water, as effectively as intact shingles.
Unfortunately, you cannot keep the hot summer sun from beating on your asphalt shingle roof. However, you can help ensure that asphalt shingle sun damage does not lead to damage of your roof decking and frame by having your roof inspected on a regular basis to locate damaged shingles and replace them.
When a wood shake or shingle roof is exposed to the sun, the sun’s heat reacts with components in the wood to weaken the wood surface and degrade the wood slowly over time. Thankfully, you can protect your wood shakes or shingles from the sun by applying a protective coating that contains an ultraviolet (UV) light inhibitor to your roof shakes or shingles on a regular basis.
Ultraviolet light inhibitors vary in composition, but many contain iron particles or light stabilizers called hindered amines that protect wood from oxidation and degradation the sun can cause. Be sure to reapply this protective coating about once every one to three years.
2. Roof Leaks
Many roof leaks develop during the summer months, especially summers that are accompanied by heavy rainfall. While leaks can develop spontaneously after roof impact damage occurs during a severe weather event, most leaks start with small roof problems that gradually worsen over time until a full roof leak occurs. Thankfully, there are many ways to prevent summer roof leaks.
First, have your roof inspected for cracked, damaged, or missing roof shingles or tiles that are allowing rainwater to seep underneath your roof exterior onto your roof decking. If this damage is not repaired promptly, then your roof decking will rot over time as water seeps onto it, and eventually the damage will allow water to begin seeping into your home.
You should also have your roof flashings inspected to ensure they are in good shape and still firmly attached to your roof. Roof flashings are located on areas of your roof that are prone to leak development, including around chimneys, skylights, and other roof features; in locations where your roof meets the exterior walls of your home; and in roof valleys.
If a flashing has become too deteriorated to function properly or has loosened from your roof surface, then a roof leak can quickly develop around the damaged flashing. In fact, nearly 90 percent of all roof leaks occur on or around damaged or missing flashings.
Finally, be sure to clean your gutters on a regular basis during the summer to prevent gutter clogs that can lead to rainwater backups on your roof. When rainwater backs up onto your roof, this water can seep under roof tiles or shingles and onto roof decking, eventually rotting the decking and causing a roof leak.
Now that summer has arrived, be sure to protect your roof from the sun’s hot UV rays and fix any roof problems that could lead to a roof leak. Contact the roofing experts at Amenity Roofing, Siding & Gutters LLC to schedule a roof inspection today.
