Tornadoes, severe thunderstorms, large hail, heavy snowfall. They all have one thing in common. These types of extreme weather will wreak havoc on your houses roof. These common weather problems have the ability to damage and rip through a roof, causing a lot of damage. If you dont take action once your roof starts leaking, the dollars will quickly add up. What you have to do is know what to look for and where to find the source of the damage to help determine what your next step will be.
Here are the four things to keep in mind when you have roof damage:
Inspect often
First, you need to inspect your roof often; not just after a severe storm. Check your roof for damage at least twice per year. By ensuring you inspect it a few times, youll know if any shingles or roof parts are in need of replacing. Its always better to make repairs and replacements before the damage is too great. Depending on your personal handyman skills, and your fear of heights, this will likely be a job for a ceiling contractor or roof repairman.
Be a detective
If you find that you need to make some extensive repairs on your roof, your next step will be to go into your attic. Youre going to be looking for water damage coming into your house. Water will mainly follow the edge of a truss or a seam in between the 4×8 sheathing that is on the trusses. The reason why you need to look in the attic first is that the water will most likely not leak straight onto your ceiling, but it will trail its way along your trusses until it reaches an end point. Some leaks may be anywhere from 10 ft to 20 feet from the actual spot that is leaking into your ceiling.
Find the source
If you have a leak that has caused ceiling damage, you need to find the source of the leak. Make sure you are aware what part of the roof you are standing underneath. Doing this will help you know what part of the roof you need to get to on the outside of your home. Plus, knowing this will help you let the contractor know where the repairs need to be made.
Once you get to the top of your roof and over to the source of the leak, you need to make sure there arent other parts of your ceiling that need repair. Typically, if you have one leak you will have others. On top of being an ugly sight to see brown water stains on your ceiling, you also run the risk of having mold grow. Roof and ceiling repairs must be taken seriously and done quickly.
Hire it out or do-it-yourself?
As stated before, depending on your skill you will want to hire a reliable roof and ceiling contractor. But if you decide to go the do-it-yourself route, make certain to get all the proper materials you will need. Ceilings require certain types and thicknesses of sheetrock, and you have to take into consideration lights, wiring, how much ceiling space you have to replace.
If youre area is known for severe weather, you would be foolish not to inspect your roof and ceiling often. As the saying goes, “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” Find the source of your problem and then decide whether to hire a roof and ceiling contractor or be the handy person in the house. But make sure you get those repairs done, once a leak starts, it can quickly become catastrophic!.
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