Your roof keeps you safe and dry from the elements, so it’s important to treat it with proper diligence and routine inspections. Making small repairs to your roof can help extend its overall longevity, mitigating the need of a more expensive replacement. It can be hard to notice signs of damage, but this guide can provide helpful tips. If you notice any of these 6 signs, it’s time to consider roof repair service before costly damage occurs.
1. Plants Growing on Your Roof?
Do you notice plants sprouting up on your roof? Unfortunately, this is usually the work of wood rot festering beneath the surface of your roof’s shingles. The fungi that grow from wood rot can destroy parts of the wood that makes your roof strong and firm. This is especially true for the humid climate in Florida. Wood rot can make your home susceptible to larger damages such as a hole created by a tree branch if it is not replaced and fortified.
2. Damaged Shingles
Your shingles act as the first line of defense against the elements. Shingles can become damaged not only with age but from the heat and intense weather commonly brought by Florida storms. If you see curling shingles, bare spots or broken shingles, it’s time for roof repair. These can all greatly affect your Tampa roof’s ability to prevent moisture from further damaging your home.
3. Signs of Moisture in Your Home
The ugly signs of moisture can present themselves in a variety of different ways. Are you seeing unexplained pooling of water inside your house? Do you have peeling paint around the base of your roof? What about water stains on the interior walls of your home? All can be key indicators that moisture is entering your home through a damaged spot on your roof.
4. Pieces of Shingle Found in Your Gutter
Everyone’s gutters become clogged from time to time, but if you’re seeing what looks like black sand or sludge inside of your gutters, it may be time to get your roof repaired. These strange substances appearing in your gutters are typically pieces of broken shingles that make their way off the roof. A debris-clogged gutter can cause a leaky roof or water damage to the interior or exterior of your home. Gutters are an integral piece of your home’s well-being. They serve to control the flow of rainwater to protect your roof, walls, foundation, and landscape.
5. Increase in Home Energy Costs
Energy costs that are mysteriously rising each month could be due to an unknown hole in your roof. A puncture in your roof creates extra work for your air conditioning and heating systems to regulate your home’s temperature. Especially in extreme cold or heat, this can cost hundreds of dollars depending upon the square footage of the home and size of the hole. If this is something that seems familiar, call a professional to investigate the problem as they will be able to quickly remedy the problem and save you any further unnecessary costs.
6. You Notice Your Roof is Slumping
Look up, does your roof seem to be bowed? A home’s roof should appear straight along its lines, so signs of sagging and slumping should be easily noticeable when it occurs. Typically, sagging that happens comes directly from water penetrating wood beneath the shingles and causing wood rot. If left untouched, this can lead to costlier repair or even the need for a full roof replacement down the line. Often this damage starts small and when addressed early enough, repairs can save you thousands of dollars in the long run.
Don’t let a damaged roof leave you out in the cold or lead to a larger, unnecessary investment. Use the tips above to check for potential problems with your home’s roof before serious damage occurs.
If you’re in need of a roof repair, contact the experts at Westfall Roofing. We treat every roof repair with the utmost integrity and value, to provide fixes that will last for years to come. After all, at Westfall Roofing we cover you like family since 1989.
