How To Tell If You Need A New Roof, And How To Pick A Replacement

How To Tell If You Need A New Roof, And How To Pick A Replacement

Part 1Seeing The Light of Roof Repair

– John F. Kennedy

“The time to repair the roofis when the sun is shining.”

How To Tell If You Need A New Roof, And How To Pick A Replacement

It’s easy to underestimate just how important it is to make sure that your home’s roof is in good condition. It’s important to regularly check your roof for dam-age, especially if you live in an area that’s subject to severe weather conditions. A careful inspection once or twice a year, in addition to a good once-over after every storm, will help you head off any potential problems, and will save you money in the long run, too!

Obviously, if you’ve just woken up to the roof leaking, or to the sun shining in through the holes in the ceiling, then you’re going to need to repair the roof. Short of that, however, here’s what you need to know in order to tell if you need a new roof or not:

How old is your roof? Roofs only last so long. The material that your roof is made from will determine exactly how long it’s expected to last, but in general, if your roof is more than 20 years old, then you might need a new roof, especially if there are signs of roof damage.

Are there visible signs of damage? Depending on the extent of damage, you might be looking at a partial or full roof replacement. Cracked, missing, or deformed shingles or tiles are clear signs that those, at least, will need to be replaced, and may indicate a larger problem. If your shingles look dirty or discolored, or if you find a lot of shingle granules in your drain, then your shingles are getting on in age and need replacing.

Make sure to check the southern side of your roof closely: it undergoes more exposure to the sun during the day than the other sides of your roof, and often will show damage due to wear before the other sides.

Seeing The Light of Roof Repair

How To Tell If You Need A New Roof, And How To Pick A Replacement

Is your roof leaking? Short of a visible leak, there are signs that indicate that your roof is taking in water. Dark spots in the attic or ceiling, as well as the pres-ence of mold or al-gae, are clear signs that there is a leak somewhere.

Having determined that you most like-ly need a replace-ment roof, it’s time to call in your insurance ad-juster to assess the damage. Depending on your situation, there are a couple of options for you to consider when picking out a new roof.

Seeing The Light of Roof Repair

How To Tell If You Need A New Roof, And How To Pick A Replacement

Part 2Singling Out Shingles –

Asphalt or WoodShingles, in one form or another, are the most common roofing material in the United States. Whether made from asphalt or from wood (cedar, most commonly) shingles are popular with roof-ing contractors and with consumers because, among other things, they are lightweight and easy to install – with a reasonable amount of do-it-your-self experience, roof shingles can be replaced without the need to call in a roofing professional. That’s not to say that just anyone can replace them – a roof can be a very dangerous place for those without the experience and know-how.

How To Tell If You Need A New Roof, And How To Pick A Replacement

Due to their light weight, shingles are well suit-ed to just about any roof, save for the flattest (those with a roof pitch of 2:12 or less). Roofs rarely require additional structural reinforcement for the installation of shingles; despite this, they are durable and resilient enough to withstand being walked on, such as during inspections, maintenance, or repair work.

Asphalt shingles are one of the most inexpen-sive roofing options available today. Despite that, they provide good protection from the weather, have good fire resistance, and are reasonably durable; asphalt shingles have warranties that last upwards of 20 years. Some manufactur-ers sell asphalt shingles with warranties for up to 50 years, but the longer the warranty, the more expen-sive that shingle model will be.

One of the main reasons for the popularity of as-phalt shingles is that they are available in a wide range of colors and styles, varied enough to suit just about anyone. They also have options such as fiberglass reinforcement, which increases durability and resistance to fire, as well as zinc plating, which reduces the rate of algae buildup. As with longer warranties, the more added op-tions, the more expensive the shingles will be.

Singling Out Shingles – Asphalt or Wood

How To Tell If You Need A New Roof, And How To Pick A Replacement

Wood shingles and shakes are typically made from cedar or redwood, though southern pine is occasionally used, too. Shingles are disting- uished from shakes in that wooden shingles are cut by machine, whereas shakes are pain- stakingly handmade (and thus more expensive).

Despite being a lot more expensive than asphalt shingles, wooden shingles and shakes are a pop-ular roofing material because of their aesthetic appeal, and give homes a warm, elegant look and feel. As a roofing material, wood is just about as durable as asphalt, and last up to 25 years. Depending on the local building codes, however, they may need to be treated with a fire retardant.

Singling Out Shingles – Asphalt or Wood

How To Tell If You Need A New Roof, And How To Pick A Replacement

Part 3The Distinctive Look of Slate

If asphalt shingles represent the “serviceable and inexpensive” end of a sliding scale, then the item on the other end of the scale from asphalt would be slate.“Classy” and “elegant” are words often used to describe the distinc-tive look and feel of slate tile roofs. To use an automotive analogy, where an asphalt shin-gle roof might be compared to a small Asian compact car, inexpensive but efficient, slate tile is the Rolls-Royce of roofing materials.

How To Tell If You Need A New Roof, And How To Pick A Replacement

Literally carved out of rock, slate roofing tiles are naturally resistant to fire – after all, stone doesn’t burn all that well. Slate is also pret-ty much impervious to water, greatly reducing the incidence of dam-age from frost, or breakage due to freezing. Further, since slate is impervious to moisture, choosing slate eliminates entirely the need to periodically paint your roof in order to water-proof it. Slate is also incredibly durable and requires little or no maintenance; some examples of slate are still quite serviceable even af-ter several hundred years.

Slate roofs, however, require special consideration; choosing to reroof your house with slate is not a decision that should be made lightly. Aside from the expense – slate is one of, if not the most, ex-pensive roofing material currently in use – slate is heavy. The relative thinness of slate tile can be misleading; the sheer weight of the material means that not every roof has the structural reinforcement required to support a slate roof. Though extremely durable, slate is brittle, and unlike shingle roofs, roofs

tiled with slate cannot support the weight of a person walking on them. This is also one of the reasons why slate will require pro-fessional services to install – roofing your house with slate is no do-it-yourself project.

Despite the expense and the generally slow rate of installing a slate roof, the best reason to switch to slate is for its sheer durability. If you’re already con-sidering roofing your house with wood shingles, then you might want to see if slate is a good option for you.

The Distinctive Look of Slate

How To Tell If You Need A New Roof, And How To Pick A Replacement

The Roofing & Remodeling Company2106 Aluminum Avenue, Suite A Hampton, VA 23661

(757) 903-0050

www.TheRoofingCompany.com