Does Heat Impact Your Roof?
Anyone else ready for summer? We certainly are. With that, we turn our attention towards a silent but potentially impactful element that can damage your roof overtime: Heat. While heat isn’t the most noticeable element when it comes to your roof, it can bring significant damage to your roofing system.
Don’t worry, we’ll go over all the highlights in this blog to keep you updated.
How bad can it be?
First off, it’s important to distinguish between two types of roofing systems: Commercial and residential. Commercial roofs (typically) are more durable than a standard shingled roof. Regardless, heat can still bring havoc. It’s not uncommon for a roof that is exposed to extreme heat to crack and deteriorate over time. Then, once a heavy rain sets in, you notice the problems. This is why, whether you are in the commercial space or residential, periodic roof inspections are important.
For the home owner, roofing damage caused by heat can be more apparent. Peeling shingles, discoloration, and cracking/breaking shingles are signs of damage that need to be addressed immediately. It is much cheaper and more less stressful to mitigate the cracking or peeling shingles prior to a heavy rain. If you wait, you could be looking at roof replacement costs plus the cost of mitigation services. That’s never a good time.
The Specifics
We’ve talk in general terms thus far, so let’s dive in to the science behind it.
Heat Shock and UV Exposure are two occurrences that can further the damage to your roof. Heat shock occurs when your roof gets extremely hot during the day and then is exposed to cold temperatures in the night. The rapid temperature change can damage the structure and is especially hard on metals—potentially causing them to warp.
UV Exposure is an invisible wavelength that can cause oils present in your roofing materials to dry up and crack or weaken the structure. This is a process that takes a lot of time to have long-lasting damage, but there are actually two things you can do as a home owner to ensure that you’re on top of your roofing game.
Solutions
Anyone that just brings up a problem isn’t helping the matter. Solutions are key here. We recommend two things to ensure that you’re mitigating heat damage to your roof. First, you need to ensure that your attic is well ventilated. Second, you should have annual or semi-annual roof inspections. With that, if you’re uncertain of damage after a heavy rain or wind storm, you should have your roof inspected then as well.
If you’re uncertain about your attic’s ventilation, give us a call if you’re in the Louisville area and we can talk through the matter together. If needed, we will come out and inspect your roof to ensure you’re in a good spot. As always, if you have any questions, be sure to reach out to us on our contact page.
- New Look Roof Team
For any questions or comments, please feel free to email us at jwest@newlookroofs.com, we hope you have a great day and thanks for reading!
- Julian