6 Residential Roofing Tips to Keep Your Arizona Home in Good Shape
Every 12 months, homeowners are likely to spend nearly $7,000 in repairs on average. As it’s an average, you could easily spend much more or much less depending on how well you maintain your home. Keeping a few roofing tips in mind can ensure your home stands for as long as possible, even if you hire a pro to take care of the hard stuff.
Here are six things to consider when you’re trying to maintain your roof.
1. Look Before You Leap
Before you buy a home, you can check out the condition of the roof to get a clue as to the shape that it’s in. Whether you hire an inspector or do it on your own, performing a roof assessment before the closing date on a home is a smart way to save the hassle. You’ll know immediately whether or not the home you’re investing in has serious issues or whether it should be in good shape for a while.
Along with getting a professional roof inspection, you can get a repair history. Any home seller interested in moving their property should be more than willing to present this info. They want to assure you that you won’t be dealing with costly repairs in the future.
If any seller is wary about letting you inspect the roof, steer clear. You should have the right to scrutinize any property before you invest.
2. Trim the Trees
The greenery over your home might be a nice way to stay cool in the summer and look great from the outside, but it can cause problems. The branches and leaves build up on a roof, it’s a recipe for disaster.
The branches that scratch and scrape on your roof could cause your shingles to loosen or elements of your roof to come off. The roof material you have has enough to deal with from the weather without trees to deal with.
The leaves are another issue. If they clog up your gutters, they’ll make it so that ice and show and water stick around on your roof for longer. The longer they stay around, the more likely they’ll break down your roof materials.
Leaves and debris could be causing water to back up into your attic. As they leak, they’ll cause holes to become bigger and introduce mold and rot along the way. If the holes become big enough, you could end up with pests and wildlife climbing in.
3. Check Breathability
One of the problems that come with poorly constructed roofs and homes is that they don’t leave ventilation for roofs. Heat and moisture need to be let out of a home via the attic and the spaces around the sheathing.
When there’s no way for heat and moisture to get out, then the rafting and sheathing can rot. This causes roof materials to buckle and for insulation to degrade. It won’t be very effective over time when it starts to break down.
Instead, check for ventilation. It allows your roofing system to be more effective and to protect your home rather than to cause it further stress.
4. Look For Insulation
As mentioned above, you need good airflow for your ventilation to work properly. Whether you’re buying, building, or repairing, you need to ensure that you have proper insulation.
You need a gap-free layer that’s on your attic floor and then material to act as a vapor retarder under the insulation. That keeps moisture from rising into your attic.
If you have an open vented space with around an inch of a gap, that’s good enough for ventilation. The gap between your insulation and sheathing could actually make your roof last for longer.
After any kind of storm and between seasons, check out your roof to see if there are any issues. Look into your attic and watch out for water stains or any evidence of a drip. Weak shingles could mean that your insulation is in danger if you don’t repair them soon enough.
5. Keep an Eye on the Color
Looking at your roof, you should be checking out the color to see what condition it’s in. Considering the fact that mold dries out in direct sunlight, you could have a roof that’s streaked with mold on the Northern side. Long periods of humidity will cause it to grow over time.
Mold, algae, and fungus all have ways of breaking down and destroying your roof. They can easily shorten the lifespan of your roof. As they break down the material, they’ll let in leaks and other issues.
Zinc strips are one of the most popular ways to avoid problems with growth of this type. They’re environmentally safe and can protect your home for 20 years.
Installing them is simple and inexpensive, certainly less expensive than replacing your roofing materials.
6. Know Your Limits
While lots of homeowners are happy to try their hand at DIY repairs, fixing your roof might not be the right choice. Not only is it dangerous, but mistakes can be costly.
If you’re determined to handle the work on your own, get a firmly braced latter with rubber safety feet. That will keep you from slipping. Keep rubber-soled shoes on so that you lower your risk of slipping as well.
Even if you do the work alone, have someone around to keep an eye on things because if that ladder drops, you could be in for some trouble.
Follow Roofing Tips to Save Money
While not all of these residential roofing tips will apply to you, many of them apply to any type of structure. Maintaining the roof and the foundation of your building is vital to keeping it in good shape as a whole.
If you’ve decided to hire a roofing contractor, follow this guide to make sure you ask them the right questions.
Is your home in need of a professional roof inspection? Call AZ Roofing Works today to get your Free Roofing Estimate! Get all of your roofing questions answered by contacting us online or call our office directly at (602) 283-3383.
