Roofing Tips To Prepare Your Home for Fall
As summer comes to a close, leaves will begin to fall—often onto your roof and into your gutters. The temperature will begin to drop, and before you know it, the first freeze of the year will be upon us. As the weather cools, you’ll need to start thinking about moisture, frozen water, and even snow buildup on top of your home. Taking action now can reduce or eliminate the need for a panicked response later on down the line. Keep reading to learn how to easily prepare your home for fall.
Five Roofing Steps To Keep Your Home Happy, Stable, and Free of Leaks
Keeping your roof healthy doesn’t need to be an overwhelming or overly time-consuming task. Taking a few steps throughout the year to maintain the health and integrity of your roof can work wonders in increasing its lifespan. Here are five simple steps to keep your roof healthy before the turn of the season and prepare your home for fall and winter.
Clean Out Your Gutters and Install a Gutter Protector
Your gutters are responsible for properly directing water flow from your roof system to appropriate areas outside of your home. When they’re clogged with leaves, sticks, and other debris, water management can become difficult. As plant material collects in your gutters, it can block the gutter and cause water to pool in certain places, disrupting its flow. This stagnant water can then slip into cracks in your home, causing leaks, water damage, mold, and general malcontent.
Installing a gutter protector can alleviate some of these issues as well as reduce the amount of home maintenance you need to do throughout the year. Gutter protectors keep plant material out of the gutter, allowing water to swiftly divert from the top of your home to the downspout and then to some other safe and designated area outside your home. The debris can simply be swept off the top. By installing gutter protectors, you can easily prepare your home for fall and prevent debris from building up.
Trim Any Overhanging Branches
Throughout the year—especially in the spring and summer—the tree branches around your property will continually grow, sometimes resulting in limbs hanging over your roof or gutter. Trimming these branches or limbs around your home now will result in less debris falling onto your roof as the trees wither with the changing season.
These falling limbs and branches can damage or knock off asphalt shingles, crack gutters, or cause other structural damage to your roof. Trimming them back before they become brittle and snap can prepare your home for fall and save you quite a bit of hassle once the weather changes.
Clear Debris From From the Roof
You can also prepare your home for fall by removing any fallen limbs or branches from your roof can also help maintain the health of your roof, much like with clearing your gutters. As plant material decomposes, it can accelerate the degradation of the roofing material, since there is more moisture being retained on the top of your home. This can lead to rot and mold and the general decay of your roof. It’s best to clear debris off your roof routinely in order to encourage proper water flow throughout the year.
Check for Signs of Damage on Your Roof
Throughout the course of the year, it’s normal for your roof to experience wear and tear; that’s part of the cost of maintaining a home. However, proper maintenance of your roof can extend its lifespan, so check for missing or damaged asphalt shingles, cracks in your gutters, or leaks and water damage in the interior of your home. All of these problems should be addressed in order to prepare your home for fall before the cool weather arrives.
Schedule a Roof Inspection
Although there’s a fair share of home maintenance you can perform on your own to prepare your home for fall, it’s likely that you won’t catch everything. A roofing expert can provide a professional review of the health of your roof, as well as suggest solutions to some of the problems they may come across. Roofing experts can provide a trained eye to catch unseen leaks, potential problems and/or current damages, keeping your roof happily over your head throughout the fall and winter seasons.
Roof Tips To Keep Your Roof Over Your Head
If you do find damage on your roof, you should address the problem before the weather starts to cool. Roof repair and replacement can be difficult in colder temperatures. Water within the roof of your home can freeze and expand, causing further cracks and long term damage, and asphalt shingles can become more and more brittle as the temperature drops. In general, it’s advised to deal with your roof system on the front end, since the coming winter months can make roof repair relatively inaccessible.
Get an Estimate, and Get To Work
After providing a thorough inspection, roofing experts will offer an estimate regarding the cost of repairs before starting their work. A good roofing estimate will include the cost of labor and materials, as well as a general timeline for your repairs or roof replacements.
Consider Kirberg for Your Residential Roofing Needs
Not only is it important to be proactive regarding your roof health, it’s also vital to contract a proven roofing expert to maintain or restore your roof. Kirberg has been operating within the St. Louis community for over 100 years, providing safe and quality craftsmanship for both residential and commercial buildings. Our roofers are committed to providing excellent work that will extend the longevity of your roof, keeping your home safe, warm, and well prepared for fall.