To prolong the life of your roof and ensure water doesn’t leak through, your home’s roof should be inspected twice a year. Once in late spring, and once during the autumn. Below is an autumn season roof maintenance checklist.
Trim the Trees
Dead tree limbs can fall on your roof and cause damage, especially when it’s raining or snowing. Trees that are leaning towards your house could also fall on your roof or allow squirrels and raccoons to pay your roof a visit. Twigs, leaves, and other debris can cause rotting, gutter blockage, termite invasion, and roof damage. If you want to avoid these problems, remove overhanging branches and ensure that trees aren’t leaning towards your home.
Gutter Cleaning
Check and clean the gutters. One of the best ways to prepare for the cold season is to clean your gutters and ensure they’re well-anchored. This allows rainwater and thawed snow to flow properly off your roofline, avoiding leaks and water damage to your home. So remove leaves and other debris from the gutters regularly throughout the fall. In addition to this, install gutter guards – these ward off any debris that would invade your gutters.
In some situations, water from overflowing gutters can pool around the base of the home and damage the foundation. For example, the heavily saturated soil puts pressure against foundation walls, which can cause them to crack. Pooling water from blocked gutters can also cause the foundation to settle, and that may trigger a chain reaction throughout the home, cracking walls and creating uneven floors.
No one wants to spend a fine autumn afternoon scooping muck, gunk, and leaves from the gutters. It’s a time-consuming task—and it can be dangerous if you’re not careful. Seal out debris but allow water to flow through gutters. The result is maintenance-free gutters that won’t cause leaks, back-ups, and other headaches.
Damage Inspection
Check the roof flashings. They are these cover gaps near vents and chimneys, and can be dislocated during a storm. Replace faulty flashing pieces. If you have an asphalt roof, replace shingles that have bare spots, are warping, or are curling at the edges. If you own a wooden shake roof, look for signs of warping. If at least 25 percent of your wood shingles are damaged, replace the roofing material. If you have a metal roof, look for signs of pitting, corrosion or gapping seams as these can lead to leaks or underlay damage.
For more information on roof maintenance during autumn, consult Johnson Roofing. We pride ourselves on being a highly professional Auckland roofing company. We cater for both residential and commercial roofing projects and really embody the no job too big or too small mind-set. Our focus on delivering quality is what has kept us in business for the last decade and our ever expanding list of testimonials pays tribute to that. Focusing on quality means we only use the highest grade NZ Steel roofing products; giving our customers the peace of mind that their roof is built to last and will be covered by a full manufacturer’s warranty.