The winter is a beautiful time of the year, with much to look forward to. The holidays arrive, family is around, and you can cozy up by the fire and for a night of love and warmth.
However, those freezing temperatures can bring on a number of problems for your home as well. Snow, ice, and high winds can easily damage your roof and lead to a need for costly repairs. Preventive action needs to be taken if you want to avoid these costs.
Winter roofing practices can help to protect your roof prior to these elements ravaging your home. What are some key tips and tricks you should keep in mind as the colder weather comes on? Read on and we’ll walk you through what you need to know.
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Don’t Let Snow Sit
Your house may look cute and picturesque with mounds of pure white snow sitting atop it, but you’ll likely want to avoid this look for too long. Snow building up on your roof can easily lead to serious damage if you’re not careful.
Snow can actually weigh a lot. The eventual build-up of all this snow on your roof can press down and damage shingles or even create a hole into your attic. Wet snow can weigh even more. Even if your roof is strong, it might not be able to support all that weight.
It’s a good idea to use a long rake to help clear snow from your roof after a storm. The more snow you allow to build upon your roof, the higher the chance of damage will be.
If you need to have a company help reinforce or repair your roof before the winter, this service provides a variety of ways to help.
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Insulate Your Attic Space
Snow and ice are just frozen water at the end of the day, as we all know. That means that with all this snow and ice on your roof, the eventual chance of leakage once things warm-up is very high.
Snow and ice can fall, get in between your shingles, and then melt and turn into water later on. If you haven’t properly prepared your roof and attic, you can end up with leakage points all over your home.
Insulating your attic space is the number one way to prevent these kinds of leaks from occurring. It’s a good idea to go into your attic before the season starts and inspect the insulation.
If there are any points where you aren’t protected, installing new insulation is a very good idea.
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Keep Your Gutters Clean
Debris coming down from trees and other elements can easily clog up the gutters on your home. Clogged gutters will not allow water to flow properly through the system and out onto the ground.
Water stuck in the gutters then will likely freeze in the colder temperatures, damaging your gutters and weighing them down and potentially causing full collapse.
The damage this kind of collapse can do to your roof is significant. The costs associated with these kinds of repairs can be high.
Clearing your gutter regularly during the winter can help to prevent this from happening.
Key Winter Roofing Tips
The winter brings about a number of serious challenges for homeowners. If you’re unsure of how to prepare for the cold weather, the above winter roofing tips can be a huge help.
Need more advice for the home? Keep scrolling our blog for more.
