Why You Should Have Your Roof Inspected
Keeping your roof well-maintained is critical to ensuring it keeps you protected for a long time. A roof replacement is one of the most expensive and time-consuming repairs a homeowner ever faces. Just like with your car, it’s important to regularly inspect your roof to keep it in tip-top shape.
You might be tempted to grab a ladder and get up onto the roof yourself. However, navigating a roof is dangerous, even for professionals who do it all the time. Not only are there safety risks, but if you don’t know where you’re stepping, you might actually wind up causing damage that wouldn’t have otherwise happened. Here are a few important reasons you should leave it to your Omaha roofing professionals to do the dirty work.
Good Roofers Offer Free Inspections
A reputable and reliable roofer won’t charge you for your inspection, so you might as well take advantage. It’s a common standard among roofing contractors these days, so if you find a roofer who wants to bill you for a simple inspection, it’s a good bet you can find a more qualified roofer to help you. A good roofer will give you an honest evaluation and won’t try to add on services or charge hidden fees. They’ll make up for their time you wind up hiring them to perform any of the necessary repairs.
Preventing and Repairing Damage
As you might expect, heavy storms and loads of snow can do a number on your roof. High winds have a frustrating tendency to tear shingles off, and to break tree limbs, which can subsequently fall onto your roof. And, if your roof hasn’t been inspected, you may not know about pre-existing issues such as weak flashing or loose shingles. Regular inspection and maintenance can prevent these issues before they lead to even more damage.
You may also see damage from moss, mold, or even animals who’ve made their way up to your roof. In particular, birds nesting on your roof can spread seed and spur on the growth of plant matter, which can slowly rot away your roof.
Also, in addition to a routine roof inspection, you’ll need to keep your gutters clean. This will help prevent brush from building up and allowing mold to grow. This is also important to allow for proper drainage on the roof. If water begins to pool because it can’t flow down the gutters, it can waterlog your roofing materials and weaken them over time. This sort of damage can cause leaks that are majorly expensive to fix!
Getting the Most From Your Warranty
Most roofs will come with a warranty to protect you. However, as a homeowner, it’s easy to lose this benefit by losing track of your warranty paperwork, of by not filing your claim in a timely manner. If you have a leak in your roof, an inspector can advise you on whether a warranty claim is the right way to go.
Your Insurance Company Cares
If something is going wrong up on the roof, you don’t want to neglect the damage until you have a mess on your hands, like a bad leak. If you haven’t ever had a roof inspection before, your insurance company can (and probably will) point to this lack of maintenance as a perfectly good reason to reject your claim. If you want to protect yourself against an abusive insurer, you’re doing yourself a favor by having your roof inspected once each year.
If it’s been over a year since you’ve had a roof inspection (or if you’ve never thought to have one), give us a call at Nelson Contracting to schedule your free inspection today.
