How to Prevent Weather Damage to Your Roof
During the winter and spring, snow, rain, hail, and heavy winds threaten your roof’s structure. And while your roof may currently be intact, severe weather conditions will gradually damage it over time. Thus, you should consider taking preventative measures.
At HB Home Services, we provide diverse forms of home improvement. Our specialties include gutter installation and efficient roofing replacement services, both of which have been vital in helping maintain the roofs of residents throughout Oakton, VA, and the Northern Virginia area. We also provide interior renovation and exterior repair services. Our versatility and reliability have made us the best home improvement service around.
Here are some ways to protect your roof from severe weather damage:
Install Guards on Your Gutters
One simple way to help prevent weather damage is by installing debris guards over the gutters surrounding your roof. Gutters are meant to help safely flow runoff rainwater from your roof and guide it safely to the ground.
However, if they get clogged up with leaves, twigs, and other types of debris, rainwater can pool against your roof. This in turn gradually causes water damage, as well as develops mold and mildew.
Installing gutter guards keeps debris out of your gutter system, ensuring that it remains unclogged throughout the year.
Place Peel & Stick Underlayment
Most roofs have tar paper installed as their underlayment, meaning that it is used as a waterproof barrier underneath the surface roofing materials. Thus, it protects your roof’s internal structure from moisture and damage.
While tar paper is reliable, it isn’t the best material available. Instead, if you are thinking of receiving future roofing replacement services, we recommend installing a more durable and waterproof peel and stick underlayment.
Tar paper requires an installer to nail each piece into your roof. However, each piece of peel and stick underlayment adheres to the others around them. Thus, they are easier to install, more flexible around the corners of your roof, and more resistant to weather conditions.
Although peel and stick underlayment is more expensive than tar paper, it can be made more affordable by simply having it installed only in sections of your roof that are more vulnerable than others.
Improve Insulation in Your Attic
You may think that your roof’s interior does not affect the rest of your home, but there is at least one case where it does. If your attic isn’t well-insulated, a small amount of heat will escape through your attic and onto your roof.
So, if your roof is covered with snow, that small amount of heat will melt the snow from underneath, which can then turn to ice later on. The thaw-and-freeze process may cause a good deal of damage to your roof.
Therefore, by improving the quality of your attic’s insulation, you will both keep your home’s interior warmer as well as prevent further damage.
Set Up De-icing Cables on Your Roof
Finally, one of the most effective ways to protect your roof from serious weather damage is to install de-icing cables. These are heating cables that use your home’s electricity to melt snow and ice off of your roof. They’re usually installed underneath your shingles, crisscrossing in specific areas that are susceptible to ice and snow buildup.
Their installation involves winding them through a home’s gutter system, from the downspout up to the roof. This actually helps by heating your gutters and downspout, melting any ice within them. Runoff water can then flow easily to the ground.
Installing de-icing cables through gutters also makes them easy to activate: you simply plug in a cable end to an outdoor socket.
HB Home Services: Top Roofing Replacement Services in Oakton, VA
Your roof is vital to your home, and weatherproofing it will ensure that it lasts against even the harshest weather. At HB Home Services, we offer exterior installations including high quality roofing replacement services, siding installation, window replacements, and more. Our skilled craftsmen also perform interior renovations and other forms of home improvement efficiently and professionally. Contact us today at (703) 764-0498 and learn more about our many home improvement services.
