Your home is the most important investment you’ll make in your life, and for many people, it’s also the most valuable. So when you plop down that humongous down payment and finally get the keys, you gain a lot of responsibility in terms of the maintenance on your home. You depend on the roof over your head to provide you with all kinds of protection, including protection from wind, rain, dust, snow, hours of sunlight, and more. This means you should pay particular attention to your roof and do your part to maintain it, starting with knowing what to look out for. Here are three roofing tips for new homeowners.
KNOW THE PARTS OF YOUR ROOF
Knowing how your roof is constructed is a key part of identifying problems. Here is a brief glossary of roofing terms that any homeowner should know so they can pick out the cause of potential issues.
- Outer layer: this is the shingles, tiles, or other surface that has two important jobs—protect your home by preventing elements from getting in, and give your home a lovely curb appeal.
- Decking: this is the layer of plywood beneath your shingles or tiles that everything attaches to.
- Timber: this refers to the wooden structure that composes your roof’s skeleton, including joists, rafters, and support beams.
- Eaves: this is the portion of your roof that extends past the outer edges of your walls for anywhere from about 12 to 24 inches.
- Fascia: this is the board that’s attached to the edge of the eaves to provide a cleaner look and add rigidity to the eaves.
- Gutters: these are small plastic or metal troughs attached to the eaves that carry water away from your roof and down to a drain pipe
- Attic space: This is the space between the decking of your roof and the top of the main home below it, which is an integral part of your roof’s ventilation
ICE DAMS
The elements will always be a threat to your roof and your home, but perhaps none is more dangerous than the ice dam. Ice dams form when warm air from inside your home rises to the top of your attic space, melting the snow and ice that accumulates in these upper regions. That water then flows down towards the cooler edges of your roof, where it re-freezes into large and heavy blocks of ice. Ice dams are not only a huge threat to those below should they become dislodged and fall, but they also cause leaks in your roof. When winter rolls around, you should take precautions to try to prevent these from forming to help prevent your roof from being damaged by the weight of all the ice.
INSPECTIONS
For the first several years in your new home, you may want to obtain an annual roof inspection to be sure no damage has formed that could lead to a serious and costly leak. An inspection by a trained technician can spot and repair any potential issues before they become a serious threat, but it’s still important to make sure the elements haven’t caused any further damage, particularly after the long summer months have dealt a serious beating to your rooftop.
