As a homeowner, keeping up with your home and being sure it remains up to code at all times is amongst your most important responsibilities. Similar to most life investments, homes necessitate maintenance as years pass to provide maximum comfort and safety. If you have lived in your house for a decade or more, there’s a strong chance you have thought about investing in a new roof installation. Before moving forward with the decision to replace your roof entirely, there are some obvious signs to watch for to figure out whether or not the time is good for you and your property.
With only a little research, you’ve more than likely crossed the” 20″ year rule for a roof’s lifespan. That figure is utilized as a benchmark. Most residential roofs need a replacement during that timeframe. However, there are many factors at play, and all roofs are unique.
All roofs take a tremendous amount of external wear and tear throughout each passing year. Sunlight, strong winds, flying trees, rodents, hurricanes, rain, or chaotic weather conditions – all of these have a direct correlation with a roof’s lifespan. How often your roof needs to be replaced depends on many things:
- Local weather.
- Timely maintenance and care.
- Age of the materials.
- How good the materials used are.
- Building and design.
- Were repairs addressed when needed?
- If wildlife was kept away.
- External debris builds up.
You Have An Old Roof
One of the first things to consider before you begin inspecting your roof for cracks, breaks, and other issues is its age. 15-20 years or more roof may necessitate a complete replacement, even if the roof itself looks in good shape from the naked eye. Roofs from years past were often built with materials that are no longer useful or considered durable by today’s standards. If your roof is a decade or more old, it might be time for a complete inspection and possibly investing in a whole new roof altogether, particularly if your roof has been laid over a previous roof installation.
Perform An Interior Roof Check
Before jumping to conclusions about needing a new roof, start by conducting your own research at home by inspecting your roof’s state from the inside out. Bring a flashlight with you to your attic or to the space in your house where the interior of your roof is easy to see and look for the following indicators of a more serious problem:
Beams of Light: Light beams are common in roofs that need replacements or repairs. To really scope out the situation, evaluate your attic during a time of day with exceptional sunlight to locate and identify any light beams.
Leaks: Inspect the attic for drips and potential water damage. When the roof starts leaking, other areas of your property and its foundation are at elevated risk, particularly if you do not address the roofing problem as fast as possible. Very damp areas can lead to further decay and mold growth that can contribute to breathing and other health consequences.
Streaking & Staining: Thoroughly look over all of the insides of your roof and try to locate potential spots, stains, and streaking. Inspect any oddly colored area of your roof for additional information on its cause and potential leak culprit. Stains and streaks within the interior walls of your roof are red flags to a deeper and more serious problem revolving around your roof’s remaining lifespan.
Curling Or Missing Shingles Are Visible
The tried and true cliche, out of sight out of mind, is fitting when it comes to the roof. Usually not taking a good look until there is a stain or dark spot viewable from the street or yard.
Weathered or dilapidated shingles are very simple to spot if you search for them. Completely missing shingles can be replaced individually, but it’s usually a sign of the bigger problem. Large areas of cracked or loose shingles (or ones that are clearly falling apart) indicate that your roof needs a replacement.
Shingles can curl in two ways – cupping when the edges turn upward or clawing when edges remain flat and the middle starts coming up. Both could indicate that.
- Moisture has built up beneath the shingles because of inadequate ventilation in the attic.
- Shingles were improperly installed.
- Old age and wear from direct sunlight and weathering.
Bald spots on your shingles indicate that the granules have begun falling off, exposing the asphalt underneath. Tip: check your gutter for shingles granules. If rain carries them into your gutters, you likely need a re-roof.
Excessive Growths On Your Roof
Dark spots (or generally grimy-looking shingles) are caused by fungus and algae growth. These might not be directly tied to how often you need to replace your roof (or that it needs repair), but such growth can spread out and cause unnecessary damage to other areas of the roof.
Noticing moss or other types of nature growing on top or out of your roof? If so, don’t worry. Nature tends to grow over any structure in its path if it is not adequately cared for and maintained.
When looking over your roof and the algae you have noticed, be sure to do so by inspecting both the inside and outside of your roof. While most plant growths are likely to be visible from the exterior of your roof, when there’s a bigger problem on-deck, nature may also be showing up on its own indoors without your knowledge.
In most scenarios, treating the growths from a roof is a way to fix the problem without money needing to be outlayed rapidly. However, if you see substantial growths on your roof or even inside of your home, the recommendation is to call a roofing company to determine the root cause and reason for the growths.
In the event the roof is just completely overgrown, then the sensible option would be to get a new roof. This only happens to roofs that are unattended for long periods of time.
Fortunately, natural growth and buildup isn’t normally an indicator that you must fix or replace your roof. Rather, moss is more of just an eyesore to your roof and one that is extremely common in humid geographic regions.
If, in the end, you do require a new roof installation, there then becomes a number of decisions to be made. Beginning with the roofing material to use, will you stick with asphalt or consider metal? Which roofing contractor will you hire? If, by chance, there’s a valid insurance damage claim. For many people having the money required in the bank to get a new roof may not be a possibility; there are financing options accessible for qualified homeowners offered by most reputable companies. Be sure to do proper research before making your choice of contractor.