The first line of defense against the elements is your roof, which protects you and your home from rain, wind, and sun. Neglecting its maintenance can lead to costly repairs and significant damage. Taking a proactive approach to preventive roof maintenance is a wise decision that can save you from headaches down the line.
According to surveys, a lack of regular maintenance can shorten a roof’s lifespan by decades. This eye-opening information underscores the critical role that preventive maintenance plays in preserving the integrity of your shed and avoiding potential disasters.
We will delve into some reasons why investing in preventive roof maintenance is a smart choice for any homeowner.
Table of Contents
- Benefits of preventive roof maintenace
- Important Tips to prevent roof damage & leaks
- The bottom line
Benefits of preventive roof maintenace
Keeps the structure sturdy and safe
Regular maintenance keeps your ceiling sturdy and safe. You can catch minor issues before they become major ones by inspecting for signs of damage or wear.
Consider it a check-up on your home’s structure. Repairing loose shingles, sealing leaks, and clearing debris can help you avoid unpleasant surprises when a storm arrives. It is an absolute necessity for new and old homes.
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Prevents expensive repairs
Everyone knows that preventive maintenance prevents expensive repairs in the long run. Address minor issues as soon as possible to prevent the need for major repairs later on.
You do not want to be stuck with a leaking roof or water damage that could cost you a fortune. Regular maintenance keeps it in good condition and your bank account happy.
Increases the lifespan
Preventive maintenance also extends the life of your roof, keeping it sturdy and healthy over decades. Cleaning out gutters, clearing debris, inspecting for damage, and performing necessary repairs can contribute significantly to its longevity. A seasoned roofing contractor can help you address any underlying issues.
By implementing these measures, you can protect your home, save money, and gain peace of mind knowing that your place is in great shape for years to come.
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Ensures a healthy living space
Maintaining your roof ensures a healthy living space beyond ensuring structural integrity. A roof with issues like leaks or mold can lead to a whole host of problems inside your home. Nobody wants to deal with a damp and musty environment that is a breeding ground for allergens and nasty surprises.
By maintaining your shed, you create a healthier and happier environment for yourself and your loved ones. Every time you enter your home, it seems like taking a deep breath of fresh air.
Enhances home’s aesthetics and value
A well-maintained shed enhances your home’s aesthetics and value. A clean, intact, and good-shaped roof makes a great first impression on visitors and neighbors.
Furthermore, if you decide to sell your home, a beautiful and well-maintained shed can increase the value of your property. That’s a great way to get a good deal as a seller.
Important Tips to prevent roof damage & leaks
Maybe you’re a brand-new homeowner or maybe you’re a longtime homeowner and you’re wondering what kinds of things you need to do to maintain your roof. Maybe even you just got a brand new roof on your house some time ago and you’re wanting to know what you should do to help take care of it.
So, we’re going to talk today about the seven roof maintenance tips that all homeowners really should do.
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Keep gutters clean
All right, well, let’s go ahead and start with the things that will apply to every homeowner because practically every home is going to have gutters, and a lot of times those gutters are in areas where they’re going to collect leaves, debris, pine needles, all that kind of stuff.
So, one of the most important things that a homeowner has to do to help maintain his roof is to keep his gutters clear. Now, you can do that yourself. There are actually some really simple tools that you can buy to help you clean out your gutters on your own.
Now, we actually do have a tool that I like. It’s got a paddle on one down and a scoop on the other, and so that you can, again, put that on a telescoping pole, put your ladder up, and you can actually clear out about 12 to 15 feet of gutter just from your having your ladder in one spot.
But it is very important. You don’t want your gutters to get all clogged up with leaves and debris because what happens then is then your water doesn’t have anywhere to go. It ends up just getting stalled in the gutter, can’t make it to the downspout.
So if then if you get a high volume of water from rain or from snowmelt or something like that, that water can actually start to overflow the gutter, and it can also back up underneath the shingles and start to come down through either into the soffit or into your house. Very important to keep your gutters clean.
Pay attention to pipe jacks
Another thing that every homeowner is going to need to pay attention to is your pipe jacks.
Now, a pipe jack is just simply a flashing that sits at the base of any pipe that comes up out of your roof. Most of the time, it’s for your sewer vent pipes. Your sewer vent pipes are those typically the PVC pipes that you’re going to see sticking up out of your roof.
And a lot of times, the flashing at the base of it is like black rubber with a metal skirt underneath it. Well, what happens with those is that neoprene, especially here in Colorado in our harsh Colorado environment, that starts to break down, and it actually doesn’t take very long for that to start breaking down. Those things can start degrading after just a few years.
So it really is important for a homeowner to keep an eye on those things, check those out. I would recommend that you take a look at those things once a year. Two different things can happen. Those can actually start to break down and fall apart.
The other thing that can happen with a pipe jack is over time that rubber can start to contract and pull away from the pipe. And like you can see on this pipe here, there’s about an inch and a half to two inches space between where the top of that rubber boot used to be and where it is now.
And that boot is just loose on there, and it’s still doing the job of sealing. But at some point, that’s going to have to be replaced so that way water can’t creep down in between the pipe and that boot.
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Exposed nail heads
Now, you’re going to have nails that are going to be visible at the bottom of pretty much every exposed flashing. So like at the bottom of your pipe jack, box vents, skylights, any of your furnace pipes, the flashing at the bottom of those.
But you’re also going to have exposed nails along the ridge where the ridge lines terminate, and they have to nail those down. And they can’t cover those with another ridge single, so there’s almost always going to be a visible nail head at the end of a ridge or where they cap off a ridge or a hip.
So while you can’t avoid having visible nail heads, those nail heads shouldn’t be exposed. They need to be sealed off with silicone or another product that is going to prevent water from essentially following that nail down through the shingle, down through the wood decking, and into your attic. You, as a homeowner, should be aware, come up on your roof and just hit those with a little bead of silicone.
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Avoid Ice Dams
Now, obviously, this only applies if you live in a colder climate. If you live in Florida, you’re not going to have to worry about ice damming. But here in these northern colder climates, ice damming is a real problem.
But you, as a homeowner, need to be aware that if you see ice damming occurring on your house, you need to take care of it, get it off of your roof. Because again, as that ice dam builds up, it’s going to start forcing water back up underneath your shingle, which could very easily follow a nail and come back down through your roof, again either in your soffit, which would be preferable, or it’s going to come down inside your house, which is not so preferable.
So again, tip number four is you’ve got to be aware of ice damming and get that off of your roof, eliminate the conditions which are going to cause an ice dam, so snow sitting at the eaves, sitting in valleys, you got to get that snow out of there.
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Furnace Vent Pipe
Oftentimes, in addition to a furnace vent pipe, there might be a water heater vent pipe. There also might be, like, a gas fireplace chimney pipe. All of those things need to be paid attention to, especially these furnace pipes because they can start to rust up there at the top where the cap connects to the actual pipe itself.
If that starts to rust, you can start to get holes in there, sometimes very large holes, and that can start to extend down that pipe. Water can get in there and then follow the pipe down into the area wherever your furnace is.
The other thing that you need to pay attention to on these is that collar. So there’s a collar, oftentimes, that sits right above the pipe jack, and that’s just to protect, to prevent rain and water from getting in between the pipe jack and the pipe itself.
Well, sometimes those collars can start to move around and shift, and then they’re not providing that seal anymore. And you can just, again, you can hit that with some roofing or weatherproof silicone to seal that off.
Valleys require maintenance
A valley is just where two downwards sloping roof pitches intersect. Now, most new re-roof jobs, those valleys are going to be closed, meaning you’re not going to see exposed flashing like you can see on this one. But there is still flashing in there, and so the valley still needs to be maintained, it still needs to have attention paid to it.
Now, on this particular valley that you can see, the thing that needs to be attended to on a valley like this is those pine needles didn’t need to be kept clear of there. And if at all possible, standing snow needs to be kept out of those valleys.
There are different products that you can install on your roof that will melt standing snow and keep it out of the valley. But the big thing is pine needles, leaves, and debris sitting in that valley, especially if it’s an open valley where you’ve got metal in there because you can see what’s happening on this is that standing water is causing that metal to start to rust.
Again, that can start to work little pinholes in it or larger holes, cracks, that kind of stuff, and water is going to come down through there. If there’s not ice and water shield barrier underneath that valley, then you’re going to have problems with water coming into your roof in that valley area. So, it’s important to make sure that these valleys are maintained and kept clear of debris, stuff, and standing snow.
Take care of the skylight
Skylights are a blessing and curse, right? It’s great to have them up there to give you light into an otherwise kind of dark room. But, in my opinion, skylights are just awful. Now, skylights take special attention because you’ve got to make sure, you can see that there’s flashing along the side of a skylight and at the top and at the bottom.
The bottom one’s not so much of a concern, except for the exposed nails that need to make you need to make sure are sealed. But the sides and the top flashing on a skylight have to be maintained, they have to be have attention paid to them because things can sit along the side of a skylight.
And then, of course, up at the top of the skylight, debris, leaves, pine needles, love to sit up there. And again, the exact same thing is going to happen. It’s going to start rusting out the flashing that is designed to keep water from getting down into your roof. Attention has to be paid to that. You have to maintain those things.
The bottom line
Preventive roof maintenance is a wise investment for any homeowner. Beyond the structural and aesthetic benefits, it transforms your home into a safe and healthy haven for your loved ones. Most importantly, it contributes to the value of your property in the long run.
