How To Prepare Your Roofing For The Coming Cold Season

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With the cold season coming up, it’s crucial to prepare your roof for the harsh, cold weather. Even if roofs play an important structural role in each home, many homeowners often disregard it.

If you want to be a smart homeowner and ensure that your roof will do its job well during winter, you must pay importance to consistent and proper roof maintenance. Several roof problems may spell havoc once left unfixed. Such include denting, molding, water damage, and leaks. Fortunately, there are roofing contractors that you can rely on with the roofing solutions necessary before the winter season.

Prepare For The Ice Dams

Ice dams happen when snowmelt pools behind the ice building along the roof’s margins. This water may back up under your roof shingles and leak into your house.

To avoid this from happening, you should keep the heat out of your attic. You can do this by providing your roof with enough ventilation through air channels right underneath the shingles. The goal is keeping the temperature in your roof’s underside the same as on the surface to avoid ice from melting.

Clean Your Roof And The Gutters

One of the ways to prepare your home and roof for the winter is by cleaning it. You should remove pine needles, leaves, dirt, and some debris from the surface of your roof to prevent rot and moisture, which may break down your roofing materials.

A good way to clean the debris of your roof is by using a soft brush or broom. When cleaning, make sure not to apply too much pressure as it may remove some roof granules that can reduce the lifespan of your roof. Aside from a broom, you may also use a blower. Just pay attention to the valleys that may collect water.

As you clean your roof, see to it that you also remove the dirt from your gutters. Make sure to tighten them securely to prevent overflows that may ruin your outside walls and roof.

Check Your Roof Shingles’ Condition

Your roof shingles are your first line of defense against the weather and water getting into the under layers of your roof that may leak into your attic.

If your roof is made of asphalt shingles, it won’t last as long as some roofing materials. Generally, these shingles have only approximately two decades of working life. So, check your shingles closely and look for some signs of curling up on the edges of the shingles, which may often be seen on the roof’s side that faces the heat of the sun.

You should also look for any cracked or missing shingles and have them replaced immediately. You can tell when your shingles won’t last long because they’ll start to shed a good deal of protective granules. You’ll find such granules in the gutters of your roof and deposited out of the downspouts of your roof after heavy rains.

Don’t Forget To Check Your Roof Flashing

When it comes to roofing, flashing is an essential component that prevents leaks. Thus, any problems with it may result in serious water damage to your house.

Basically, flashing is made from a galvanized metal or aluminum, both of which are durable materials. Flashing serves as an extra protective roof mechanism that directs the water off your roof, keeping your home structure protected from water.

Flashing is found along the roof’s intersection on every joint at the edge of the skylights on areas where the chimney interconnects with the roof and other similar areas. Rain and freezing temperatures may sometimes cause the flashing to loosen, tear, corrode, and lift.

To prevent any possible leaks or damages during winter, it’s recommended to check your flashing to ensure that everything is functioning properly.

Inspect Your Attic

Your attic is the first place you should check if you want to know if your roof has leaks or cracks. By checking the moisture damage or leaks on your attic walls, you’ll know if you need roofing services before the winter.

Some wild animals might also be hiding in your attic if there are cracks in your roof. If there are animals in your attic, your roof might have damaged or missing shingles. Once you notice such issues, don’t hesitate to call for a roofing professional immediately. Doing this can help you save money all winter long.

Bottom Line

Inspecting and preparing your roof for the coming cold season is a critical part of your home maintenance, and you must always consider it as your priority. Remember that your roof will keep your home protected and safe from the elements, so ensuring that it’s in good shape will save you lots of aggravation and trouble in the future.

If you’re not sure that you can do the necessary assessments on your own or if you don’t have extra time, you may always hire professional roofing experts to give you a hand with your roofing needs.

Julie Higgins
Author
Julie is a Staff Writer at momooze.com. She has been working in publishing houses before joining the editorial team at momooze. Julie's love and passion are topics around beauty, lifestyle, hair and nails.

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