Preparing Your Roof for Winter

SAFE AND SOUND UNDER YOUR ROOF

The weather is changing and the cold winter weather is starting to set in. Is your roof ready for snow, ice, frost, wind, and all the other things that come with the fall and winter seasons? Here are some things you can do to make sure your roof is ready. 

Shingles

Make sure none of your shingles are missing or loose. With snow and frost, missing shingles cause leaks because of all the water that will collect and not run off your roof. It’s always a good idea to look around your roof near step flashing, vent pipes or antennas to make sure nothing is out of place or loose. Anything loose has the potential to fall off or cause a leak.

Gutters

You will also want to make sure all your gutters are clear. A gutter full of leaves will obstruct the way water runs off your roof. This leads to run off in the wrong places or weighing down of the gutters. This could cause your gutters to collapse under the pressure of added weight.

Roof

Not only do you want to clear your gutters but you also want to make sure your roof is clear. Leaves or pine needles on your roof will collect water and could cause a leak or rotting on your roof. Also make sure your downspouts are clear, because you don’t want anything stopping the rain runoff from your roof.

Leaks

One way to check for leaks is to go into your attic and look for dark spots, watermarks, mold, dampness, fungus, or rot. Roof leaks, if you let them go for too long, especially with the extra pressure from the snow, could cause a roof cave-in. Also check your roof for sagging in the structural supports. This, with the added pressure of the snow, could also cause a cave in of your roof. Normally this won’t happen, cave-ins are more likely to happen to an older roof (20 years old or older.) You can get ahead of costly repairs by going up to your attic and checking for any of these signs.

Trees

Check for tree branches around your roof that are dead. These could, with accumulated snow and ice break and fall onto your roof. Larger branches could cause serious damage to your roof, not just the shingles, but also structural. Removing the branches ahead of time will help minimize the risk of damaging your roof.

Now is the Time

Now is the time to have your roof checked. If it gets much colder out, frost will begin building up and snow will not be far behind. Before the winter weather has a chance to impact your roof, let us inspect it and then get it ready for the cold weather season.

It’s important to have a trained professional check your roof. First of all, they are trained and know exactly what to look for. They also know how to safely get up, walk around, and get down from your roof. The last thing we want is a homeowner getting hurt because of something that could have been easily avoided. Give us a call, we offer free inspections and estimates.