Roof Maintenance for the Faint of Heart

At GI Roofers., you can learn a great deal about repairing leaky roofs. Protecting the investment you have in your home is important. Without a good roof, the rest of your house could suffer expensive damages from leaks. Check out these tips for making sure the roof on your house is always in good condition.
Before you attempt to get on top of a house, making sure you know some safety tips for doing so is necessary to avoid injury. Never go up on a wet roof and make sure you wear rubber soled shoes to prevent slipping. Using safety ropes and ladder anchoring is always a good idea as well. If you have questions about these tips, contacting a professional is best.
Taking care of repairs on a shingle roof is important to prevent water from seeping underneath them. Seeping water can cause serious and expensive damage to the wood beneath shingles. Look for shingles that are curled up or ones that have been torn away. High winds and hail can cause these issues to occur. Curled shingles can generally be repaired using roofing cement. Missing or severely damaged shingles will need to be replaced.
The leaking issues you may have with a flat roof may be from pooling water. Flat roofs are made up of layers of tar and felt material. In the event the felt is damaged, that area can dip lower than the rest of the roof. Pooling water in this dip can begin to seep through to a structures interior. Repairing this problem starts with soaking up the pooled water. Removing blisters on the felt and securing material with roofing nails is best. Once nails are driven, covering the entire area of repair with roofing cement is recommended.
Roofs covered with wooden shakes can also have leaking problems you will need to repair. Most of the repairs you will make to wooden shake roofs are akin to the ones you make on roofs covered with asphalt shingles. Look for damaged or missing shakes and replace them accordingly. This is especially true after high winds or storms that deliver strong hail.
The areas on a roof that require flashing are common for leaks. Open valley roofs experiencing leaks may need new flashing and shingles in the area of the leak. Flashing around chimneys, vent pipes and skylights can also require repairs that involve materials replacement. You should know leaks around flashing can also be repaired using roofing cement.
One way you can avoid damages to your roof is by cleaning the gutters out on a regular basis. When leaves and other debris fill up the gutters on your house, the water backs up into them and causes clogs. Once this type of clog occurs, water has nowhere else to go except underneath the shingles or other roofing material you have on your home.
Taking the time to learn more about how to care for your home can allow you fewer repairs. This is especially true for the roof on your house. Learning about the steps you can take for maintaining roofing materials is essential to the total protection of your home.

If you’d like, consider our RoofLife Maintenance Program and we’ll handle everything for you.