Keeping up with maintenance on your home will reduce the risk of a catastrophe and add resale value to your home. Keeping your roof in good shape is essential for protecting your home from water damage and keeping it strong for many years to come, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy or cheap. A roof has a lot of moving parts, but if you take care of it, your roof can last for decades or even longer. Here are some tips on how to maintain your roof so you don’t have to replace it anytime soon.

Assess Your Roof’s Condition

You can’t start a roof maintenance plan if you don’t know what shape your roof is in. You can’t maintain what you don’t understand. Fully inspect your roof to understand its current condition, so that you can know what to expect in the future. There are several ways to do this:

Repair Your Roof

If you find that your roof needs repairs, act quickly to make those repairs. Delaying roof repairs will only worsen your roof’s condition and lead to expensive roof repairs in the future. There are several repairs you can make to prolong the life of your roof: – Patching holes – Holes in your roof are like leaks in your roof. They will cause water damage to your home and reduce the life of your roof. You can patch smaller holes with asphalt or shingles or with a special patching material, but large holes in your roof may require re-shingling. – Replacing broken or missing shingles – If your shingles are missing or broken, water can seep through your roof and cause damage. Replacing missing shingles can extend the life of your roof. – Replacing damaged flashing – Gutters, chimneys, and other roof features cause water to splash up and land on your roof. This water can cause serious damage to your roof, but flashing helps prevent this. Replace any damaged flashing to prevent more serious roof damage later.

Perform a full roof replacement

A full roof replacement is the most extreme way to maintain your roof, but it’s also the most thorough. This option is best if your roof is nearing the end of its life expectancy, has significant damage, or if you want to start fresh with a new roof. A full roof replacement will replace your entire roof, including the shingles and the underlying structure. This type of roof maintenance is the most thorough way to protect your home from water damage caused by a leaky roof, but it’s not cheap. You’ll spend several thousand dollars on a full roof replacement.

Get an Inspection Before You Replace Your Roof

Before you go through with a full roof replacement, get a roof inspection. This will help you know what is wrong with your roof, so that you can ask for repairs or a full roof replacement. A roof inspection will tell you about the condition of your roof, the type of roof you have, and any repairs or issues that need to be addressed. A roof inspection can help you decide if you need a full roof replacement or if you can repair the roof instead. A roof inspection can also help you identify potential problems with your roof so you can start planning repairs or replacements now, before they become serious issues. A roof inspection is a good idea for homeowners with roofs less than 20 years old.

Conclusion

You can’t maintain what you don’t understand, and you can’t protect what you don’t know. Having the knowledge and understanding of the current condition of your roof will help you know what to do when it’s time to maintain or repair it. If you want to protect your home from water damage and keep your roof healthy for years to come, then you must know your roof inside and out. The first step to doing that is to assess your roof’s condition, repair any problems, and then get an inspection before replacing it with a new roof.