Be the best version of you. Always try your hardest. Aspire to greatness. These mantras get us through many challenges throughout our lives. Your home deserves your best, too. In their own way, your Michigan home and your home’s roof have health needs. What are the residential best practices for roof health and long life? Let’s count down the five most effective ways you can extend the life of your home’s roof.
#5 Stay Off!
We have said it many times, but this always bears repeating: stay off your home’s roof. We say it for five reasons:
- Roofs are inherently dangerous
- Steep-slope roofs, which most residential roofs are, require proper safety equipment most homeowners do not have
- Homeowners lack the knowledge to accurately assess their own roofs
- Residential roofs degrade quickly from foot traffic
- A fall from a one-story roof can land you in the hospital; a fall from a two-story roof can land you in the funeral home
Rather than wear yourself or your Michigan home’s roof out by carelessly, clumsily walking on your roof, turn to trained professionals. Ask your local residential roofer for help with all aspects of maintaining and repairing your roof.
#4 Ground Control
From the safety of a spot in your yard, look at your roof from time to time. Take a few pictures to document its condition over time and throughout the seasons. Look for:
- Debris (tossed toys, broken limbs, organic matter) on the roof
- Loose, broken, or missing shingles
- Curled, cupped, or crazed shingles
- Stains, moss, or algae growth
- Shingle granules at the bottom of downspouts
Signs of roof distress such as these mean you need to contact your neighborhood residential roofer. Arrange an inspection, discuss remedies, and preserve your roof.
#3 Inside Job
A residential roof “best practice” you can perform day or night is to check your ceilings and walls inside your house. If you see brown or black ceiling stains, streaks in wall corners, or signs of moisture, you may have a roof leak.
A small roof leak will never get smaller. It will never spontaneously close up. A tiny roof leak can ruin rafters, joists, insulation, drywall, and your home’s interior. A little moisture in the attic or inside your walls can foster huge blooms of mold and mildew, leading to unpleasant smells. Mold can also harm people and pets inside your home.
Keeping a vigilant eye out for your roof’s condition, simply by looking at your interior living space, is an easy and quick best practice.
#2 Jot It Down
Accurate roof records are vital for the long-term care of your home’s roof. You may have inherited the roof when you purchased your existing home. In that case, get a local roofer to perform an initial inspection and give you a rough idea of your roof’s age.
If you are fortunate enough to know the exact installation date of your roof, you may also be lucky enough to have an in-force warranty. All of those documents — original estimate, Scope of Work, warranty — are valuable and helpful. They can protect you if you need to file a claim with the roofing materials manufacturer. They can inform your current roofer of the roof’s makeup and installation year.
Keep notes about yearly maintenance, the types and locations of repairs, and who has been on your roof. Bear in mind third-party vendors, like satellite television technicians or plumbers, may also have to walk on your roof. Note their movements, too.
#1 Get Regular Roof Maintenance
By far, the number one best residential practice for keeping your home’s roof in prime shape is to arrange for regular roof inspection and maintenance. When you bought your last car, did you consider never changing its oil, rotating its tires, or vacuuming out the interior? Those are maintenance tasks, and they keep your car running well and looking good.
Do you buy clothes and never wash them? Have you ever scrubbed a toilet, sink, or shower? Those are maintenance tasks. Changing light bulbs, replacing furnace filters, emptying dehumidifier tanks; all maintenance. Every aspect of your home deserves attention and maintenance.
Except, apparently, your roof.
Most Michiganders ignore their roofs, and ultimately they pay a steep price. You probably have not considered the value and economy of regular, annual roof inspections and maintenance visits. A single appointment with your friendly, helpful residential roofer could save you thousands of dollars in repairs and hours of heartache.
Your roofer can safely walk on your roof, assess its condition, zero in on tiny problems before they become big deals, repair minor issues, and provide you with a strategy to prolong your roof’s life.
Connect with us today at Victors Roofing. We proudly serve Southeast Michigan with expertise in shingle roof repair, maintenance, and replacement.
