Inspecting The Roof Of Your Home To Determine If It Needs Replacing

The roof on your home may last twenty or more years without needing any attention, but eventually, roofing material can start to deteriorate and leak. If your roof is approaching its twenty-fifth birthday, it is time to have a roof repair company do a full inspection of the roof to determine if it needs repair or replacement.

Looking For Leaks

Sometimes it is hard to determine if a roof has been leaking over time or not, but in most homes, the best place to check is in the attic space. Inspecting the roof's underside from inside the house can tell the roof repair contractor a lot about the roof's condition. 

Stains on the wood or areas where mold has formed inside the attic often indicate a leaking roof. The wood may also be soft and rotting in the area from the repeated exposure to the water, depending on long the roof has been leaking and the amount of water getting in under the roofing material. 

If the roof has been repaired before, the area may be dry now and only have a stain on the wood. The roof repair contractor will check the outside of the roof to determine if there was a roof repair done successfully or if the area is still in need of repair.

Damaged Roofing Material

Once the inspection is completed inside the home, the roof repair contractor will look at the outside of the roof. The inspector will look for things like damaged shingles, missing material, or curled shingles that allow water under them. 

Asphalt shingles are one of the most common materials used on residential roofs, and even though they often have life expectancies in the fifteen-year to thirty-year range, the weather conditions in your area can have a significant effect on how long they do last. Roofing shingles can lift in high winds or come loose entirely and require a roof repair contractor to replace them.

If the shingles are loose or missing, the roof repair contractor may be able to patch the roof to get a few more years out of it, but if the damage is too widespread, it may be better to have the work done sooner than later. 

Flashing and Seals

Anywhere that a chimney or vent passes through, the roof needs to be inspected very carefully. If the flashing around those areas is loose, water can get behind it and damage the material under the flashing or seal. The roofing repair company can replace the flashing and reseal the roof if necessary, but the contractor should inspect the wood under it before they repair it. If there is damage to the wood, they may be able to patch it and install new flashing on the roof and reseal it. 

To learn more, contact a roof repair company.

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