The Impacts of Weather Damage On Your Roof
The Impacts of Weather Damage On Your Roof:
But, a big storm is just of the many kinds of weather elements that can damage your roof. High wind, rain, and even a little hail can all cause significant damage in the right conditions. Over time, even just plain sun exposure will damage your roof. Especially if you happen to live somewhere that released UV warnings regularly. This guide from Atlanta roofers, Colony Roofers, walks you through what to look out for on your roof after a storm comes through.
While there are plenty of experts who can review your roof on the occasion and tell you when you need repairs, sometimes you need to see the signs of weather damage before your next annual inspection. These common signs of weather damage will clue you into problems, often before the problems lead to even more damage.
Warning Sighs That Your Roof Might Have Weather Damage:
Lots of Shingle Granules Around Your House and Downspout:
All asphalt shingles, the most common kind of roofing material, are covered in small granules. New roofs shed these granules more than older ones as time passes, but it eventually evens out and becomes less noticeable.
The granules are there to help protect your roof from UV rays, so it’s not just a matter of wear and tear. If you lose the granules, you are vulnerable to other roof damage.
You'll typically find them around your downspout since the granules will be carried down by water running off your roof. But you may find them other places, especially in high wind, or if a lot of the granules are shed all at once.
Particularly after a bad hail storm, look for lots more granules than usual surrounding your home.
You may also find roof granules after a bad wind storm, heavy rain, or a string of high UV days and warnings.
Warning Signs On Your Roof
Depending on the color of your shingles, there are a few things that dark spots could be indicating. In some cases, those darker areas might be places that the shingles are wearing out or have shed more of their granules.
But the most common reason, especially in warm/wet climates, is algae. Particularly with asphalt shingles, the most common, blue-green algae will happily grow on and in the shingles.
Algae can grow anytime there is lots of water trapped in your roof, or if you have a lot of water and high humidity for a few days or weeks. While the algae isn’t a direct cause of damage, it’s a sign of water damage on your roof and other weather damage along the way.
Warning Signs: Missing Shingles
One of the most common signs of weather damage to your roof is missing shingles. Most common with high wind, there are lots of different things that can cause missing shingles. Snow can also lift off shingles and parts of shingles that were already loose.
Hail can also damage and lift away shingles. Especially larger hail that damages the shingles directly as it falls.
Warning Signs: Creased and Cracking Shingles
Usually, shingle creases and cracks appear long before you have truly missing shingles. The cracks can form any time the shingles either degrade or have a high impact. The shingles can also begin to lift and flap in the wind, causing creases and cracks.
Hail can also cause divets in the roof shingles themselves. Usually, the cracks are circular in nature, but they don't have to be.
Even before your creases and crack develop into broken and missing shingles, you need to pay attention to them. Those creases and cracks can allow more moisture into the underlayers of your roof, causing more of the problem.
As this problem gets worse, you’ll find more roof granules around your house. You’ll also potentially start seeing small pieces of shingle laying around as small sections rip off and get carried away by the wind.
Other Signs To Look For: Large Icicles
Another sign you should look for, and one that is potentially less easily identifiable, are large icicles building up around your roof.
Some icicles are normal, especially if you have an area without gutters, low-slope roofing, or get a storm that floods your gutters and freezes.
However, if you consistently get large icicles after every storm, you likely have another problem underlying the problem. There are a few types of weather damage that cause large icicles.
The most common is damage to your gutters and the drainage system. If your gutters bend, clog, or otherwise can’t carry water the way they need to, you’ll get a buildup of water on your roof.
Another problem that can cause large icicles is improper airflow and drainage in your roof. Sometimes that can be a matter of the roof not having been designed for the climate and humidity in your area, but it can also be a sign of other water damage.
If water is getting into your roof, and cycling back and forth between condensing and evaporating, you’ll eventually see large icicles forming on the eaves of your roof as the water escapes and freezes again.
Not to mention that the icicles themselves can damage the gutters on your roof and form a safety hazard for the people walking around your property and living there.
Other Signs To Look For: Slumping Roof
Another sign of more serious weather and water damage is a sagging roof. Several things can cause a slumping roof. Intense snowfall, for one thing, can cause the roof to slump if it can no longer hold the weight. Some roofs aren’t designed for the weight of a large snowstorm.
Other problems can be caused by too much moisture under the roof rotting rafters and support beams.
Just time and wear and tear can also cause a slumping roof.
Conclusion:
While weather happens all the time, good maintenance and repairs to your roof can help to keep it stronger and healthier for the long haul. But, weather can also cause serious damage to roofs at unexpected moments.
While you’ll have people coming out to scope a neighborhood after big storms, especially hail damage, being able to recognize the damage yourself can help you determine when you need to contact a professional. Colony Roofers is an Atlanta roofing company with years of experience in storm damaged roofs.
Be prepared, know how to recognize weather damage before it causes a bigger problem.
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