7 Tips and Tricks on Getting Your Roof Ready for Winter

There are going to be a lot of things that you have to prepare for when wintertime comes, one of the biggest concerns is that you have to tackle getting your roof ready for winter. With your winter roof and winter slowly approaching, then you are going to need to know when you are going to get a winter roof repair, winter roof maintenance, winter roof replacement, or winter roof repair leak. 

Important Ways To Get Your Roof Ready For Winter

• Clean Your Gutters

One of the easiest things that you could do during your winter roof maintenance is to clean the gutters of your roof. Your gutter is there as a protection to your home from any possible or further water damage. They are able to control the flow of the water when the storm hits and keeps the foundation of your home safe from any water.

It is suggested that you clean your gutter before winter even comes, fall season is the most suggested season to start installing all of these gutter guards and screens, which are tools that would be able to help prevent any of the leaves from infiltrating your gutter.

Also, remember to wear rubber gloves and make use of a gutter scoop when you are cleaning out your gutters. Get sine gutter spikes, rivets, and gutter sealants when you are in the store buying some stuff as well, these are in case you are going to need to replace your gutters.

• Ensure No Animals Are Present

There is a chance that you may have invited some wild animals into your home if you did not notice the damages that are on your roof. The animals may stay up in your attic or make your roof their home. So you could go up there and make sure that there are no wild animals living in the vicinity. 

In doing this tip, you are going to have to inspect your attic first before your seal it off, that is because you would not want to trap them in your home and cause the birds or the animals to forcibly make it their home 

• Examine Your Shingles

The shingles on your roof should also be something that you have to examine. You could do this after you clean your roof since this is the time when you have a better visual of what the conditions are on your roof. Look for any possible damages, cracks, and breaks that may be on your shingles, and make sure that you get them repaired as soon as possible. 

For winter roof maintenance, you may need to replace the shingles (or even the whole roof itself) when you notice that there is some damage on it because of the moisture or if there are any cracks. 

You could also go and hire a professional to come and inspect your roof during the fall season so that your winter roof would be ready when the season comes.

• Inspect Your Roof’s Edges

Your winter roof during the winter time could have all of these ice dams that may form because of the cold, and it could cause structural damage to the edge of your roof. 

So for winter roof maintenance, you could go ahead and install a ventilation system that would help protect the edge of your roof from any winter roof damage. 

During your preparation, you may or may not have to install flashing to the problem that you have repaired. Flashing is what you call the metal fixture that would be able to be wrapped around your winter roof’s edge. You have to look at any changes in the elevation of your roof to determine whether or not flashing is going to be needed to install.

• Prune and Remove Hanging Branches

During the summertime, the trees could act as a shield for you and your home from the sunlight since the sun is high up in the sky. 

But when it transitions into the wintertime, this would be a different story since these branches could actually put more damage on your roof because of the needles, fruit, and leaves that could drop on your roof, some molds and mildew that would have built up, and heavy storms that may come your way.

So when the winter comes on, prune and remove some of the branches that are hanging on the trees on your property. Before you do that though, you are going to have to consult an arborist, who is a professional that is working in the tree industry. That is because they know all of the regulations in your local area pertaining to anything connected to tree cutting and the like. 

• Remove Built-Up Debris, Dirt, and Leaves

There are some leaves that may have been sitting there over a certain time period, so you are going to have to clean and remove some if the build-up. 

The dirt and the leaves that land on your roof may cause some molds to grow on there because they have moisture and cleaning up the roof and the drain would help in protecting your roof winter roof because it could encourage some healthy water drainage.

Twice a year is the suggested amount of times you have to clean your roof. When you are doing this, you have to make sure that you use some heavy gloves to protect your hand from any possible cuts. 

• Review Important Homeowner Information

Make sure that you know what damages are being covered during the winter for the warranty of your roof and the insurance of the homeowners. 

Usually, the warranty of the shingled roofs would last about 30 years on average and the homeowner’s insurance tends to also cover some of the damages that have been done on the roof.

Can Roof Repairs be Done in Winter?

Yes, ideally, roof repairs could be done in about any weather and any season. Though some seasons may be harder than others. But, depending on the kind of winter roof repair, winter roof maintenance, or winter roof replacement you are going to be doing, you may opt to wait until spring to do it since it’s hard to be on the roof during the winter time.

Preparing for the season to change, you need to be aware of all of the things you are going to have to do to help you prepare your home. Working with Big Easy Roofing will help you get your roof ready for winter since they would be able to help in keeping your roof maintained or replaced so that you could stay warm and cozy in your home during the wintertime. Give us a call today!