The roof is the most important part of the home that needs to be looked after and taken care of. This comes in the form of roofing maintenance tips that everyone can do a quick Google search and find out what these tips are.
But if you’re a beginner and are looking for a 2024 guide on roofing maintenance tips, then this is the article for you. In this article, we will be giving you the best tips, best practices, and how you can do some of these on your own.
With all that said, let’s begin.
Contents
1. A Tip When You Buy the Home
This first one is not exactly a maintenance tip but one that is very important none the less.
Its importance is so unique that we decided to make it first on this list. But what is it?
Well, before you buy a home, depending on if the home is newly built or not you should call a professional to make a complete roofing inspection before you move in.
This is heavily advised as it will help uncover any potential problems that can be very costly. A roof is a very expensive part of your home, and having to make repairs or wholesale changes can vary drastically impact your finances.
Calling in a professional for the first-hand inspection before finalizing the transaction is something that everyone should do regardless if they’re buying a new or an old house.
2. Trim Surrounding Trees
Now onto some of our DIY maintenance tips that you can do all by yourself, and the first one is to trim any surrounding branches of trees that might pose a problem to your roof.
Failing to do this can especially pose a problem during strong winds and storms. These branches can also scratch and damage your roof on a normal day, so imagine the damage done during strong winds.
A simple yet highly effective maintenance tip that can save you potentially thousands of dollars is to simply cut off branches from surrounding trees that are too close to your roof.
3. Cleaning Debris
You should take out the ladder and climb onto it to clear up debris left from leaves and other elements that can clog up the gutter. The gutter is very important as everything falling on your roof goes into it.
Naturally, you can imagine how important it would be to have it clean during heavy rains. But if you don’t understand the problem you’ll be facing if you don’t have the gutter system clean, then let us explain it to you.
Every once in a while various debris will enter your gutter system. They will reside there until you climb and remove the debris. If you don’t remove the debris and a storm happened, then you’re risking water to back up into the attic of your home and leaking through causing havoc.
To prevent this costly issue from ever materializing, experts suggest you clean the gutter at least twice a year. Also, debris can damage the gutter and even cause it to sag, resulting in costly repairs.
According to the experts at Mighty Dog Roofing, it’s not just rainwater that is accumulating in your rain gutters. Your gutters are also being clogged with debris such as leaves, dirt, pine needles, or anything else from the ground that has landed in your gutter system.
As an addition to this article, we suggest you head over to 800remodeling and read up on the 7 essential practices for proper roof maintenance.
4. Make Sure the Roof Can Breathe
Ventilation is very important for your home, but it is also important for the roof.
Without proper ventilation, your roof will be in a lot of trouble due to the constant change in the atmosphere. Heat and moisture can wreak havoc if you don’t have proper ventilation. But what exactly can happen without it?
Well, numerous things to be frank with you. It can cause the materials used on the roof to buckle up, it can make the insulation to less effective, it can cause rafting and sheathing, and tons of other stuff.
So, a proper maintenance tip for any beginner is to have proper ventilation to prevent all of these problems from ever occurring.
5. Insulation
We talked about ventilation now let’s talk about insulation as both are inherently connected to one another.
If you want to have excellent ventilation, then you must allow for proper airflow. This is all made possible if you have the right insulation.
Insulation can be the difference-maker in preventing any heat from either escaping or coming in your home. We make our walls with it so we can save hundreds of dollars on heating.
But you can also add insulation to protect your roof from the same things. Namely, every beginner should add a thin layer of insulation on the attic to prevent any unwanted problems with it. This will prevent any heat gain/loss but also prevent the formation of mold on the walls.
It is very important so do not neglect it.
6. Check Your Attic
By now you’re mostly coming to the realization that everything is connected between each other when talking about roofing maintenance tips.
This is probably the revelation every beginner was looking for. However, we’re not done yet as we’re heading once again to the attic. Here, you need to check for any potential damage that has occurred after heavy rain or storm.
Ideally, you need to be looking for potential water stains of weak shingles due to the strong winds the night before.
You should always make these inspections after a heavy storm, and it is something considered to be a best practice.
7. Preventing Streaking
As a beginner, you don’t normally pay attention to the color of your roof, do you?
Well, every beginner makes mistakes and it’s time to eradicate those with this final roofing maintenance tip we offer you. Namely, streaking is when your roof catches mold, algae, and even fungus and it can be very serious business if not taken care of.
Streaking mostly occurs on the northern side of your roof due to the less exposure to sunlight and frequent exposure to shades. The best way to uncover this is to simply observe the color of your roof every once in a while.
If not taken care of, it can potentially degrade the material that is used on the roof itself.
For all your roofing maintenance needs, visit rbsroofing.com/residential-