How To Know If Your Roof Needs To Be Replaced

Inspect your roof s shingles for cracking or buckling.

How to know if your roof needs to be replaced.

If you ve lived in your home for a long time you may know your roof s age. Snow and rain flow through valleys and into gutters. Knowing when a roof was installed and what it s made of offers insight into how much life it has left. Loose or missing shingles curling edges or rot are also clear signs that roof replacement is near.

Valleys are one of the most important areas of your roof. If the valley is compromised you could be susceptible to roof leaks. Your roof is at least 20 years old. Loose or missing shingles need to be replaced as soon as possible to avoid serious roof damage.

While many shingles today are produced for durability many factors can accelerate the aging of shingles. Review your home improvement records to see how long ago the roof was replaced or reshingled. You can keep patching until a bigger issue presents itself but if a roof starts to look like a checkerboard people often opt to replace the whole thing. See if any stray shingles have made their way into the gutters.

If your roof is nearing its typical replacement age you should probably start thinking about your next roof. If not keep an eye out for your neighbor s getting roof replacements. Visible signs of aging on a 3 tab asphalt shingle roof. And while nobody likes having to pay to replace a roof the critical and aesthetic function it serves should help ease the pain of spending 8 000 to 20 000 on the work.

Clean it off to assess the shingles beneath. If previous roof repairs were installed over the top of your existing roof a practice known as overlaying you should definitely think about a roof replacement. The roof is arguably the most important component of your house. The roof just looks old and worn.

For example if your roof is not properly ventilated it can negatively impact your shingles. How much time you ve got left. One easy way to be sure you need a roof replacement is if your roof is older than 20 years old. Moss growth will shorten the lifespan of your roof but it doesn t necessarily indicate roof replacement.