Whether your roof is old and may be compromised, or you’ve recently experienced a ferocious storm, checking your roof for damage can help you avoid costlier repairs further down the line, and protect your home for longer.
Below are some of the commonest types of damage roofs suffer from:
Wind
From shingles lying on the ground outside your home, to the adhesive seal breaking and leading to a possible leak, high winds can cause all manner of problems for shingle roofs.
Falling debris
Storms often cause debris such as branches to break off from trees and fall onto roofs below. Smaller branches may not cause any harm, but big limbs can easily crack shingles or cause them to fall off.
Hail
Unavoidable when it strikes, while small hailstorms likely won’t harm your roof, bigger storms can easily do some serious damage, particularly if it goes on for an extended period of time. Once the storm has subsided, check for dents on the surface of your shingles.
What should you look for when checking for signs of roof damage?
Checking for damage to your roof following a storm is always a good idea, although you should never do it alone, and must take the necessary precautions to ensure your safety at all times.
When checking your shingle roof, you should be on the lookout for:
- Non-uniformity
Curled, cracked, or out-of-place shingles are a sure sign that some damage has occurred, as are shingles that look dark, dirty and wet in comparison to the others. When shingles are damaged they quickly begin to trap moisture beneath their outer layer, and shed their granules. Note that some degree of shedding is perfectly normal and presents no major cause for concern, but excess shedding (your gutters may be full of gritty, sandy granules) could be a sign that something is very wrong with your roof.
- Other signs of damage
Take the time to check around all other openings in your roof, such as chimneys, pipes and vents, and even the paintwork on the roof’s exterior border. Peeling paint could indicate an issue with moisture inside your attic.
You should also check inside your home for any signs of roof damage
Go up to the attic if safe to do so, and look to see whether any of the rafters are sagging or looking loose; this could indicate that moisture has penetrated the roof, or built up from within your home.
Discoloration or water stains appearing on any of the walls in your attic or top floor rooms, could mean that the roof’s underlayment isn’t working effectively to prevent moisture from penetrating.
Locating moisture in your attic doesn’t automatically mean that your roof has sprung a leak, it could mean that the flashing has become damaged or is missing, and needs to be replaced. That said, moisture anywhere in your attic should always be taken seriously and addressed appropriately, ideally by hiring a roofing contractor to come out and inspect it.
You can also check for leaks in your roof by going up to the attic during daylight hours, and visually checking for light that might be shining through, suggesting a hole, gap or crack.
Finally, if your energy bills have increased significantly, this could be due to air escaping your home when you don’t want it to.
Any damage to a roof can result in big problems if left untreated, but with routine monitoring – particularly following a storm – and engagement with a local roofing contractor, you can avoid excess damage and limit the threat of harm to the structure of your home.