As any homeowner knows, your roof is one of the most important aspects of your home’s exterior. It offers a long list of benefits for your home including protection from the elements, as well as curb appeal & insulation. Considering it is your home’s primary line of defense against the elements, your roof is subjected to plenty of inclement weather which will wear away your it’s integrity over the years. If you’re interested in finding ways to help combat this damage, and to improve the longevity of your home’s roof, you’ve come to the right place! Keep reading below for a tips & tricks that will help you squeeze a few more years out of your shingle roof!
Have Your Roof Inspected Annually
If you’re interested in improving the lifespan of your home’s roof, there is no better preventive maintenance you can do than having it inspected on an annual basis. Your roof is an incredibly complex piece of engineering, and with so many individual pieces working together to keep your home protected, if any single part of the system fails, it can cause considerable damage to your roof.
The only way to be sure that every aspect of your roof is in good condition is to call in a professional to examine the system for you. While homeowners may assume that signs of damage are obvious, such as missing or broken shingles, often the most concerning damage is far more subtle, such as rusted flashing or roof caps that allow water into your roof deck.
Clean Your Gutter System, or Install Gutter Guards
Next up, a piece of advice that is particularly relevant to New England homeowners is keep your gutter system clean. While we know how tedious and filthy this task is, keeping your gutters clean can help reduce the impact of one of the North-Easts most damaging phenomena; ice dams.
Formed when heat escaping from your attic melts the snow on your roof which refreezes in your gutters. Over time, this ice dam will become larger until eventually, it begins to hold water on your roof which is then continually heated by your attic. This water can then seep into your roof deck causing significant rot damage.
Keeping your gutter system clean of debris will help combat this by giving the snow run-off more space in which to sit, and potentially travel through your gutter system in the event of a mid-winter thaw. In a clean gutter system, there will be a much larger buffer before snowmelt begins to overflow out of the system, which means at the very least you will have time to address the issue before it gets out of hand.
Ensure Your Roof Is Well-Ventilated
Lastly, you will want to ensure that your roof has the proper ventilation to ensure moisture doesn’t accumulate in your attic. Roof ventilation ensures that hot, humid air has a way to ventilate out of your attic, which will help keep your home cooler in the summertime, and prevent the humidity from damaging the shingles.
Additionally, proper roof ventilation also helps prevent ice dams! Since ice dams are formed when the heat from your attic melts the snow on your shingles, having a well-ventilated roof means that the attic is the same temperature as the outdoors, which prevents the snow from melting and forming ice dams in your gutters!
Contact Us Today
Hopefully our tips gave you a few ideas for your next home improvement project, or inspired you to pick up the phone and take that step towards preventive care that will save you money in the long run! However, if you need to replace your home’s roof this fall, our team at RIHI The Home Improvement Specialist is ready to assist! You can reach out by calling us today at (866) 563-7293 or by filling out our team’s online contact form! We look forward to hearing from you and assisting with your roof replacement needs!
