Residential homes can endure rooftop damage for a variety of reasons, including hail impact, heavy winds, and more. Luckily, there are ways to minimize the damage your roof sustains over the years. These tips will show you the best ways to protect your roof from damage all year round.
Schedule Regular Inspections
All residential homeowners should maintain a roof inspection schedule. These inspections simply require you to look at the roof and inspect it for cosmetic damage such as holes, scrapes, and loose or missing shingles. You’ll also need to keep an eye out for ice dams in the winter, and debris such as leaves, tree branches, and twigs that may accumulate throughout the year.
How often you should inspect a roof depends on the type of roof you have. Most roofing materials, such as asphalt shingles, call for inspection once or twice throughout the year. However, if you have a metal roof, your inspections may be less frequent, thanks to how durable and low maintenance they are. For these reasons, as well as their eco-friendliness, many people view metal roofing as a better option than asphalt shingles. In fact, some manufacturers may tell you not to worry about maintenance with metal roofing at all.
Don’t Ignore the Gutters
Your gutters should be a reliable method of transporting water away from your roof and should not cause additional water damage. However, if leaves, ice, and other forms of debris find their way into your gutters, they can block the water from reaching the ground. If water builds up, it can impact your roofing material and cause destructive moisture damage. Just as you regularly inspect your roof, you should inspect the gutters as well. That being said, there is one more area you’ll need to inspect—the yard.
Inspect Your Yard
It might sound odd, but one of the best ways to protect your roof from damage is to perform good yard maintenance. We’re not necessarily talking about the grass or flowers, but the trees. As you already know, tree branches and leaves are common forms of debris that can accumulate on your roof and in your gutters. Branches, in particular, can cause further damage, depending on the durability of your roof. To prevent the accumulation of this debris, make sure to regularly trim your trees if they grow large enough to hang over your roof.
