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How to Maintain Your Roof
No matter your climate or location, your roof is under year-round assault from rain, sun, wind, and possibly ice, hail and snow. Your best offense against this ongoing onslaught is a good defense: regular maintenance.
To maintain its integrity, keep your roof as free of debris as possible is critical to the integrity of any roof system. Also although it's highly doubtful that you'll have the urge to linger on the rooftop-traffic should be kept at a minimum. Only walk on your roof when it is absolutely necessary to perform maintenance such as cleaning the gutters, skylights or the roof itself.
The most common do-it-yourself roof maintenance projects you may undertake are those of finding and fixing leaks and replacing loose or missing shingles.
Finding Leaks in Your Roof
If a leak surfaces, carefully inspect the roof as described previously. Denote with spray paint any holes that you find. Also look for obstructions in the roof's valleys. (They can hold water and cause it to backup under the shingles.)
If, after a thorough external inspection, you are unable to locate any obvious sources of the leak, it's time to do an internal examination of your roofing structure. To do this, you should enter your attic on a bright, sunny day. Then turn off any lights and cover any windows in the attic to darken the space. Any light then seen shining through will reveal cracks or holes from which your leak may surely stem. Be sure to also inspect the areas around vent pipes, chimneys and skylights; these are places that have had the roof decking cut and resealed, so they are often culprits for broken seals or flashing. Should all else fail, you may need to flood the suspect area of the roof with your garden hose while someone in the attic watches for the drip to appear.
Replacing and Repairing Shingles
Because shingles are small, self-contained units, they are easily replaced without disrupting the rest of the roof. Your tools of the trade for this task will include spare shingles, nails, roofing cement and caulk. If, upon closer scrutiny, you find that the entire roof is badly worn or that the damage is more extensive than you had estimated, you will likely need to replace the entire roof.
It is best to have a professional roofing company do any major roofing job; expert assistance, in this instance, is well worth the expense if, for nothing else, the headaches and hassles that it can save you. Also, deciding to make replacing your roof do-it yourself project and then calling in last-minute help from professional roofers can end up costing you as much-and perhaps even more-than gaining well-planned professional for assistance to complete the entire job.
Teach you how maintain your roof.
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Roof
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