Roofs provide an amazing amount of protection for a home. They take a beating from the elements day after day, year after year, and through the seasons continue to keep the outside from getting in and destroying a home. However, like anything manufactured and built, over time roofs age and begin to have small problems. Those issues can grow into big problems every quickly if not stopped on time, and when they do, the repairs can be fairly expensive.
Eyeballing a Roof Doesn’t Work
Most folks just try to look at their roof from the ground or focus on very visible issues that become obvious. However, an experienced roofer skilled in the trade can walk a roof with the right equipment and safety controls, actively examining all of the functional aspects and confirming the actual condition of the structure. That also includes the inside of the roof in the attic where slow-developing issues become apparent but stay hidden for a long time until the symptoms are huge, such as mold and staining.
Experience Matters
For your local area, the ideal expert is someone who has worked on roofs for a good number of years and knows from experience what to look for in terms of trouble. That can mean subtle shifting of the roof tiles, degradation that is only visible when looking at the condition on the roof, problems with birds or rodents that can’t be seen from the ground, or general aging conditions that make things brittle and vulnerable for the next big storm to come along.
Avoid a Huge Hit Down the Road
The cost of a full roof replacement can be well over 15 to 20 thousand dollars, depending on the home and what will be needed for a replacement. This is why maintenance and condition checks are so important. A smaller fix can result in maybe a few hundred dollars or a lower price for a simple job versus what would be needed when the entire shelter system is compromised and needs to be replaced. And remember, costs include damage to the inside of the home too. Water can produce a significant amount of damage once a leak starts getting inside a home. With everything from swelling of materials to mold and similar, water can easily travel along the interior and damage more than one room or just the attic.
A Local Roof Doctor Makes Sense
If you need someone to examine and tell you what’s going on with your internal organs or critical health, you go to a doctor. When it comes to your roof and something is wrong or you’re not feeling right about what’s going on, you should go to a professional roofer for an evaluation. It only makes common sense. Trying to be your own doctor probably wouldn’t turn out very well in serious cases, and the same thing can happen trying to evaluate your own roof from the driveway or on the edge of a ladder.
Hire a professional roofer to periodically inspect your roof. The savings in avoiding serious problems can be tremendous, and you’ll have peace of mind knowing where your home roof is with age and condition instead of finding out the hard way with a serious repair.