Taking Care of Your Roof Once the Snow is Gone
As a homeowner, you know you need to take care of the investment that is your home. You prepare it for bad weather and seasonal changes, but there are seasons and phases that often get overlooked. We prepare our homes for winter weather, especially roof repair and gutter maintenance, but often neglect to make the transition to warmer weather. As the snow begins to melt away, taking care of your roof when the warmer weather rolls in is the time to begin thinking out the roof cleanup for spring.
We at Stay Dry Roofing know taking care of your roof is important all year-round. Preparations for winter are essential, but it is equally important to prepare for the shift from cold to warm weather. Winter weather can be a shingle’s enemy, but the damage often doesn’t reveal itself until the seasons change. This is especially true in areas, like ours here in the Indianapolis area, that get a lot of heavy snow fall, ice storms, gusty winds, and fluctuations in temperatures all winter long.
Once you have weathered the winter storm, it is time to take care of your roof by inspecting it for any damage that might have occurred over the winter season. This is one of the best roof care tips professional roofers give homeowners, but it is often overlooked or ignored. It is vital to your roof’s functionality that you take care of it during transitional periods such as warm to cold and cold to warm. Not only will this make a home look better, it can also extend the life of the roof. Stay Dry Roofing offers are some tips to make taking care of your roof during spring clean up easier.
Roof Care Tips for Taking Care of Your Roof After Winter
- Tree Limbs
In taking care of your roof once winter has turned to spring, it is important to make sure that you keep all tree limbs and bushes and other landscape foliage trimmed back and away from your home. Make sure tree limbs don’t touch your roof. Tree limbs can easily rub against the roof during storms or in windy conditions, and this can scrap off the protective covering of the shingles, It can even dislodge the shingles, and damage the underlying roof structure.
This will severely reduce the life of a roof, making it more susceptible to water damage and other structural issues. Taking care of your roof by keeping it free of overhanging or touching limbs can go a long way in helping you preserve the structural integrity of your home.
- Leaf Matter on the Roof
A little leaf buildup on the roof is fine. In taking care of your roof, you do not have to clean off it after every single storm. However, if leaf matter is allowed to build, accumulate, and get deep enough to hold moisture, then it needs to be cleaned off. Moisture held against the roof can cause water damage and promote other issues, such as rot and mold.
A rake or air blower can be used to clear the roof, but it is important to use care. You do not want damage the shingles or blow or tear any of them off along with the leaf litter you are removing. This is one of the most important ways you can make sure you are taking care of your roof!
- Moss
Moss may look charming and scenic growing on a roof. Certainly, in photos it gives a more natural or rustic appearance. But, in reality, moss can be harmful for your roof. It makes any roof work more dangerous because of the increased risk for slips and falls. It can also grow under and between the shingles, loosening them and damaging the roof’s integrity. A good roof care tip is to keep an eye out for mossy areas and take action sooner rather than later to deal with any mossy growth.
While there are chemicals available on the market to get rid of moss, we at Stay Dry Roofing don’t recommend their use. Runoff can cause damage to plants and landscaping, so it is best to avoid these. The best prevention for moss in taking care of your roof is to remove leaf litter, routinely clean the roof, and keep tress trimmed back so the roof has daily exposure to the sun to keep it dry.
If you already have substantial moss growth on your roof, give Stay Dry Roofing a call for advice.
- Mold
Mold all too often comes with rot and decay. So the presence of mold on the roof is a major concern when taking care of your roof. Discolored streaks on a roof indicate there is mold, algae, or fungus growing on the surface. All of these are organisms that feed off the organic matter they grow on, and they all can eat away at the roofing material. In time, they cause the shingles and roofing structure to fail due to damage.
A treatment of chlorine bleach or copper sulfate solution applied with a garden sprayer can kill the mold. But be sure to take care in limiting the amount that gets into the lawn and flower beds around the house. Gently scrubbing the mold off the shingles is another option, but it is important to avoid the temptation to power wash the growth away. The power of the pressure water can blast away shingles and damage the underlying roof materials. Taking care of your roof takes regular vigilance and requires a constant, watchful eye.
- Gutter Damage
When winter snows subside and melt away, in taking care of your roof, you need to keep an eye on your gutters. Heavy snow from the winter season may have damaged the gutters and the edging shingles of the roof. This damage may not be able to be seen until the warmer weather rolls in. A good roof care tip is that, before the springtime rains and storms begin to roll through, it is important to check the gutters. If they are loose, damaged, or clogged they will not drain way water as they should. It can pool on your roof and lead to major water damage issues.
Questions? Contact Stay Dry Roofing in Indianapolis
Taking care of your roof is the one area of home ownership too often overlook until real damage has been done. But even when homeowners try their best, there are several areas that can escape even the most careful untrained eye. That’s why having a complete roof inspection done by a fully trained and professional roofing contractor should be done once the snows are gone.
An experienced pro knows what hidden issues to look for, such as sheathing or decking damage left behind by ice dams, while also checking for the more obvious problems of missing shingles, chimney damage, or flashing around chimneys and vents. An investment in taking care of your roof by having an inspection done by a trained professional will save you money in the long run, and help extend the life of your roof.
Dealing with these potential problems before they get to be major ones will help keep your roof ready for seasonal weather challenges, and keep it strong and functional for many years to come. Use these roof care tips and you will get the most out of your roof and make sure you are taking care of your roof to the best of your ability!
As a family owned, locally operated Indianapolis business Stay Dry Roofing is a trusted name in all things roofing. We are experts in every aspect of gutters and roofing, roof repair, roof replacement and roof maintenance. We serve Indianapolis and the surrounding communities, including Brownsburg, Franklin, Greenfield, Martinsville, Noblesville and more.
Offering a FREE QUOTE is always a part of how we do business. Call us at (317) 308-7773 or use our Contact Page. We look forward to hearing from you!