When do homeowners need to have their roofs repaired? The simple answer would be that a roof with holes or that have collapsed will require restoration works. However, there are man other tell-tale signs that can be used to pinpoint the presence of existing roof damage.
In this article, we cover the top 3 signs that show that you need to engage professional waterproofing companies for a roof repair job. By following up on these 3 signs, major damage to both your roof and home can be avoided.
Common Damages to Roofs
Before we cover the signs of roof damage, we first need to understand what forces cause damage to roofs. This includes UV rays, physical debris or force exerted and water penetration.
Ultraviolet Rays
Known as thermal shock, UV rays can degrade the very structure of your roof. This occurs as all sunrays contain Ultraviolet (UV) radiation that harms our roofs by getting into their chemical compounds and altering them. Technically, it causes your roof’s coating to break down and evaporate. Subsequently, your roof is left unprotected, drying up and being prone to developing cracks.
In addition to UV rays, light energy also converts to heat upon contacting with your roof. The subsequent increase in temperate accelerates chemical reactions and allows for thermal expansion. Since now all parts of your roof will be heated evenly, the non-uniformed temperature makes your roof prone to fractures.
Physical Debris
During storms, debris such as fallen tree branches may land on your roof. Their mass and acceleration could result in a force that is sufficient to cause physical damage to your roof. Consequently, your tiles may show signs of chipping or cracking over time.
It should be noted that you should avoid carrying out a personal investigation of your roof’s tiles by stepping onto your roof. This is because you might step on chipped tiles which in a worse case scenario could give away. At which point, you would have further damaged your roof while having placed yourself in harm’s way.
Water & Moisture
All roofs are typically designed to be either waterproofed or water resistant. Yet over time, these systems may break down due to wear and tear. What happens next is a cycle that further degrades your roof’s condition. When water is able to get beyond the initial waterproofing layer, it becomes trapped in your roof as moisture.
Moisture further widens pores and gaps in your roof’s material when the sun’s heat is applied to it. Furthermore, it creates a moist environment, which when deprived of sunlight, allows mould to grow at rapid rates. In the long run, decay starts to set in, with your materials weakening and breaking apart.
Additionally, water need not necessarily have penetrated from your roof. The tricky part about dealing with water is its highly mobile trait. Water could have entered your building from another place, before being transported as moisture to your roof via the capillary effect. As such, it is entirely possible that your roof becomes compromised through no fault of its own.
Top 3 Signs of Roof Damage
Checks by professional waterproofing contractors on your home’s roof would likely reveal a host of different issues. Yet, many of these are not immediately visible to the naked eye. As such, here are 3 signs that as a layman, you will be able to look out for.
Peeling Paint
Is your walls’ paint peeling, thinning, bubbling or splitting? Alternatively, do you find that your wall has spots that are yellowing or browning? If so, it is likely that a dense amount of moisture exists on the hidden side of the wall. It is this damp environment that has facilitated the growth of mould and decay which in turn damages your walls’ paint.
As covered before, the challenge here is that the leak may have occurred from your roof or a totally different part of your home. Nonetheless, peeling paint is indicative of water seepage from some point in your home.
Broken Shingles
If your roof is cracked, curled or there are missing shingles, the problem might get bigger. Most inexperienced roofing contractors focus on shingle replacement but leave other underlying problems within the structural frame. In fact, in some cases, you can simply depict the roof’s lifespan by its shingle’s health status.
We recommend always having your roof investigated after big storms, and during those extremely hot months as the change in temperature leads to thermal expansion or contraction. No matter the quality of the material, repeated contraction and expansion would lead to cracking, especially if moisture has already penetrated prior to this.
It should be noted that you should avoid carrying out a personal investigation of your roof’s tiles by stepping onto your roof. This is because you might step on chipped tiles which in a worse case scenario could give away. At which point, you would have further damaged your roof while having placed yourself in harm’s way.
The Formation of Small Ponds on your Roof
An alarming sight for your home’s roof would be to see the formation of small ponds on top of it. When water is allowed to accumulate in a spot, tremendous pressure is placed upon its waterproofing systems. Should you spot ponds on your roof, you can safely assume that some form of water leakage has already occurred from your roof.
When first constructed, your roof should have been created with proper fall design. Fall design ensures that rainwater is quickly directed off your roof, thus limiting your roof’s exposure to water. This is typically done by having easy to traverse paths on your roofs that lead to drainage points. However, over time, water may no longer effectively exit from your roof due to one of two reasons.
Moisture further widens pores and gaps in your roof’s material when the sun’s heat is applied to it. Furthermore, it creates a moist environment, which when deprived of sunlight, allows mould to grow at rapid rates. In the long run, decay starts to set in, with your materials weakening and breaking apart.
Additionally, water need not necessarily have penetrated from your roof. The tricky part about dealing with water is its highly mobile trait. Water could have entered your building from another place, before being transported as moisture to your roof via the capillary effect. As such, it is entirely possible that your roof becomes compromised through no fault of its own.
Firstly, if your roof has gaps or blockages, then water may no longer follow the originally designated path. Secondly, should your drain or fall path be choked with foreign debris like leaves, then the flow rate will be hampered significantly. These two situations allow water to build up on select spots on your roof and eventually form ponds.
Introducing Roof Doctors
Roof Doctors is a trusted water leakage repair company with more than 15 years’ experience in waterproofing and decoration application works. We boast a team of experienced workers who pay close attention to each project’s details and deliver the best solutions for our clients.
