Long Island Roofing: Article About Repair Or Replace Your Roof
To restore to a sound condition after experiencing damage. Mending or fixing a roof is to repair it. The damage to a roof can be caused by a number of factors, including wear and tear, weather or falling tree limbs or branches.
Question answered by an experienced Long Island roofing contractor: How do I decide if I should replace my entire roof?Roofs can develop leaks long before the entire structure requires replacing. The leaks can be caused by damage to a centralized area due to cracked or missing shingles. While it is entirely possible to repair a small area of the roof, deciding if you should replace it is an exercise in timing. If the roof is already showing signs of wear, it would make more sense to replace the whole structure.
Good decision making is the key to minimizing both near and long-term costs related to the repair or replacement of the roof of your house. Even if only a small portion of your roof is showing signs of wear, it is smart to consider replacing the entire roof while there is a team of experts from Long Island Roofing on-site with ladders, scaffolding and equipment.
All roofs eventually wear out and require replacement. It is understandable that you don't want to spend money by doing it too soon. However if you wait too long, you can end up with leaks and extensive water damage to the inside of the house. Deciding when to replace the roof depends on a few variables, such as the effects of harsh weather in the area, the susceptibility of your home to future damage and the age and wear and tear of the existing shingles.
Replacing shingles that have relatively minor damage due to a fallen tree limb or excessive wind is fairly inexpensive and easy and can be done by a handy homeowner. Be sure to go up on the roof on a sunny day when the roof is completely dry. Lift the edges of surrounding shingles with a pry bar and carefully the remove nails of the shingle to be replaced. Clean out any loose or brittle roof cement left under the shingle. Rounding the back corners of the new shingle with a sharp utility knife makes it easier to slide in to place.
A roofing professional from Long Island Roofing can answer any question you have about architectural roofing or flat roofs.
Lift the corners of the overlapping shingles and drive roofing nails through each corner of the new piece. Each nail head should be covered with roof cement and smoothed down with overlapping shingles. If you are not comfortable performing this work, contact your trusted roofing professional.
When damage to the roof is more significant, or confined to one side of the roof, partial roof replacement is an option. It is more cost-effective that replacing the entire roof, since damaged or torn shingles can be removed and replaced. The downside of doing this is that unless you have shingles saved from the existing roof, your patch job will not match the rest of the roof. While this may be a viable option and extend the life of your roof for another decade or more, if you plan to sell the house within a few years, this could present a problem. Prominent patch jobs are unattractive to potential home buyers. If this is the route you decide to take, make sure you work with your trusted roofer to match the new shingles as closely as possible to the existing ones.
Replacing a roof is a large expense, but it will last for decades. When it is done properly, it is one less thing to worry about when rain turns to ice and snow and the storm winds start to howl.
