Roof - Repair or Replace
Replacing your roof is expensive. Expensive to the tune of 15-25 thousand dollars, depending on the square footage of your roof.
The sun baking on your roof is the number one culprit for roofing materials to begin to fail.
If you have a leak in your roof, there is no reason to begin panicking. Most leaks can be repaired without having to replace the entire roof.
However, a roof needs to be replaced when the shingles have become so dried and brittle that they are no longer keeping moisture out. The rain water gets under the shingles and causes damage tothe joists holding up the roof. It is more of a slow death.
The front of our home gets direct sunlight all day long. Luckily the roof over the main portion of our house does not face the front of the house. The only section that is constantly baked is the front porch, which is big enough. This is the main reason that main support (shown in a previous post) of the front porch rotted. The roofing material cracked and pulled away from the flashing. And the rain began to leak inside of the porch roof. Until the porch began to sag, it wasn’t readily visible. Yes, if we had gone up onto the porch and inspected we would have noticed it, but we were too distracted by other, more obvious, things.
Signs you might need to replace your roof:
1) Age. A roof ususally lasts 20 years, this can be considerably less due to extreme weather conditions.
2) Missing or broken shingles. If some of them are visibly damaged, then others are on their way there also.
3) Roof is exposed to extreme direct sunlight, build up of lots of snow and ice during the winter, or frequently experiences hail.
4) The condition of the beams in the attic or ceiling walls.
5) Roof sagging between rafters. This indicates that the roof decking is also compromised and needs replacing.
Even though the cost of replacing a roof is high, it is better to replace (or repair if possible) than to let it go. The damage that a bad roof can inflict upon a home is staggering and it will end up costing far more in the long run.
