Spring is here!! Winter season of snow, wind and ice can brutalize home’s exterior, leaving a number of frustrating roofing repairs in its wake. You know when snow and ice accumulate in gutters and along roof ridges; melting water is unable to drain properly. As water backs up behind these ice dams, it can seep under flashing or penetrate your roof shingles, tiles, ceilings and walls—leading to major water damage. Don't wait until the summer high season! However, for much of the country winter never really arrived. This is the best time to start any renovation that your house or building needs.
This kind of weather can lull building owners and managers into thinking that there is no need for any maintenance, repairs or inspection of their roofs. This year’s unusually warm temperatures still gave way to many bitterly cold nights. These drastic temperature changes can result in unusually rapid and frequent expansion and contraction that add wear and tear to roofing membranes and metal components. When spring rains come, as eventually they will, you don’t want the unpleasant surprise of find out your roof system wasn’t ready for them.
By inspecting your roof you can save many hours of inconveniences caused by leaks. These days roofing companies are offering free inspections. Avoid damage by taking the right decisions on time. The first thing is to inspect the interior of the building to identify any moisture that may be entering the building. This is time where you need a professional roofing contractor who can predict the damage that have done and the solutions that can prevent any damage further.
Winter can do many things to your roof. Make sure that all your gutters; drains and scuppers are cleaned during inspection. A professional should check and tighten drain clamping rings that may have been loosened during freeze-thaw cycles. He can also check collector heads for damage to the joints, and make sure scuppers still have good seals to the membrane.
If your roof has any higher areas over lower roof areas, icicles that fall may cause damage to the membrane below. If you have areas where this type of damage occurs, you may want your contractor to install walkway treatments to protect these areas.
You may also want to install walkways from roof access to roof-top equipment. If walkways are not already there, damage may occur from routine equipment maintenance traffic. Spring is the ideal time to do this, before you need maintenance on your rooftop heating and air conditioning equipment.
Roofs that are coated should be inspected for wear. Weather checking and crazing are also indicators that re-coating should be considered. Give thought to re-coating with a highly reflective coating, to give you added energy savings during the summer cooling season.
Steep roofs are not immune to winter’s ravages. Ice dams can damage shingles, breaking seals, loosen gutters and damage tile. If you have metal roofing in snow country, you need to check for missing snow guards or install new ones where you noticed problems with sliding snow. Also, close attention should be paid to those areas that could be damaged by excessive expansion and contraction that a mild winter can produce. Metal expansion joint covers, elastic expansion joint joints, coping cap joints, pipe flashing or gutter joints should all be checked for damage. Your professional roofing contractor has the experience to know where to look for this type of damage.
Now is the time to contact your roofing professional to get your winter damage taken care of and to perform that needed maintenance that can add years to your roof membrane.
