Autumn ‘most vital time’ for inspecting your home’s hardest-working element
The secrets hard-working roofs keep could fill, well, a roof. Tibetan monks sworn to silence do more talking. Triple deep cover agents have been known to spill the beans more about what’s ailing them than a roof. Roofs plead the fifth more often than a mobster in court.
Jokes aside, when a roof finally speaks, it pours its soul out. Literally, a leaky roof will pour most of whatever harsh water and environmental materials it’s been holding up down into your home.
With winter’s harsh wrath looming in just a couple short months, it’s time for every homeowner to have a serious talk with the most essential part of its home. No one works hard to keep your home standing healthy and happy than your roof. Give it a Bob Vila Award for Home Most Valuable Player.
But even the best roof could be feeling the wear and tear of too many hard days on the job. The key to saving your budget from a costly roof replacement is communicating with your roof, and knowing what ailments it may be fighting heading into winter.
“Few problems are more vexing than a leaky roof,” Better Homes & Gardens.com warns. “Finding the source of the problem can be time-consuming. Stop problems before ice and winter winds turn them from annoyances into disasters.”
With HomeAdvisor pegging the average cost of a roof replacement at $7,494, this is not an issue you can afford to sit on. Be your own investigator and research your roof like the Federal Bureau of Investigation doing heavy background on a job applicant.
Inspect your roof from to bottom, using binoculars, or hiring a licensed professional if necessary. Be sure to check:
- Ridge shingles for cracks and wind damage
- Look for metal flashing damage in and around vents and chimneys
- Check your gutters for large accumulations of granules, a telling sign that your roof is losing its coating
- Make sure your gutters are flowing freely.
A roof inspection will also give you a heads up on any leaks, unusual wear and tear, damage caused by windblown debris, organic growth issues, problems with shingles installation
If your pre-winter health examination of your roof reveals a lot of damage, alas, as DIY Network notes, “it’s time to replace the entire roof.”
So cue up the DVR and skip a college football Saturday this fall and spend time with your roof, listening, learning and understanding the potentially costly secrets it’s been keeping.
“Perhaps the most vital time of the year to have your roof inspected is the fall,” Bob Vila.com’s Glenda Taylor notes. “Timing is key.
“Frigid temperatures can compromise the success of new roof installations and such repairs as shingle replacement because new shingles can’t seal down properly when it’s too cold outside. Moreover, attempting repairs on icy roofs can be treacherous, so roof problems uncovered too late in the season may have to wait until spring to be fixed. Another argument for a fall inspection is the fact that certain roof repairs should be initiated in the fall so they can be completed the next spring.”
The moral of our story: There’s no better time than the fall to have a serious heart-to-heart talk with your roof about what’s ailing it.
“Spare yourself a headache down the road by having your roof inspected periodically inspected,” Taylor advises.
