“A roof is to a house, what a hull is to a boat”. I’ve been using that little line for years now, and it still holds true. Short of a natural disaster a leaking roof can cause more damage to your house and belongings than just about anything else. Things like mold growth in areas you can see that can effect your health, and the surprising speed that interior walls and flooring can become compromised by rot if a leak isn’t taken care of immediately. A leaking roof is an obvious reason to consider replacement but what if your roof isn’t leaking. What to look for so you can get the most out of your roof, but know when replacement is necessary before your roof and house are compromised. The clues outlined below will also help you decipher and communicate more confidently with a roofing professional when you start getting estimates or inspections.
1st Clue, Loose Granules: are you seeing granules on the ground around your house, or do your gutters have a lot of granules collected in them? If you aren’t able to look in your gutters check to see what’s coming out of the gutter spouts. Granules are the main UV protection for your shingles. After years of your shingles expanding and contracting day and night season to season granules will become loose and roll away. This slowly compounds the abuse your shingles receive from the elements and your shingles dry up and become brittle.
2nd Clue, Failed Adhesion: There is an adhesive strip on the top of each shingle that is softened by the sun and glues to the shingle above. A healthy, properly installed shingle roof is many small parts(shingles) that attached to each other to essentially form a single barrier to protect your house against the elements. You and often see when the adhesive strips are failing by looking up a roof slope from the ground. You’re looking for lifted, bubbled, or popped up shingles. If your shingles are curled your roof is in what I would call extreme decline and needs replacement in short order. Missing shingles, and creased shingles are an extreme sign of compromised adhesive which will allow the shingle to lift in higher winds.
3rd clue, Mildew(and other growth): We’ve all seen the light streaks down an otherwise graying roof in our neighborhoods. Usually the light streak will be directly below a vent pipe, attic vent or chimney. This is because the zinc used to galvanize the flashing around your chimney or on your attic vent, or the lead on your vent pipe used to protect against rust slowly washes down onto your roof and inhibits mildew growth on the shingles. Today, high quality modern shingles like CertainTeed’s Landscape or Owens Corning’s Duration shingles have additives like copper or zinc infused in the granules on top of the shingles which add another layer of protection by mitigating mildew growth. Excessive mildew will shorten the life of your shingles, and sometimes create and environment for other things to take root like moss, mold, and we’ve even seen the odd tree sapling rooting into shingles. There are treatments out there but for the most part it’s snake oil. You most certainly do not want someone walking all over your roof pressure cleaning. This might look pretty at first but in reality you just paid to knock of hand full of years off the life of your roof. Every step, and every blast of water washes granules away and gives the elements deeper access into your shingles. The best option is to choose a higher grade shingle in the beginning. For example we only use CertainTeed or Owens Corning shingles. After 30yrs roofing in harsh sun, hurricane prone environments, I can attest that they are not just the best shingles, but the companies are always on the cutting edge of progress in shingle design and materials. A few dollars more per bundle is a very small price to pay for the protection they offer. This sounds like a sales pitch, but I don’t work for either of these companies, I’m only speaking from 3 decades of experience.
Parting Thoughts: ask your roofer to put 6 nails per shingle. This isn’t necessary unless you’re in a high wind area like on the coast etc, but honestly, what an extra nail per shingle cost? We build all of our roofs to the manufacturers coastal installation requirements in regards to flashing, and nail placement. We also always use the manufacturers whole roofing system from underlayment and flashing, to starter strip and hip/ridge cap. This way you will have access to the manufacturers full warranty. When you hire a roofer, don’t hire the cheapest company. You don’t want corners cut, you don’t want cheap materials or mismatched materials used, and you want a roofing company that will be around to honor their installation warranty if needed.
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