Roof repairs or roof replacement?

When dealing with an older roof and especially one that has torn and damaged shingles or has been guilty of a constant and annoying leak, Your first thought may be once again, is my best bet going to be to repair the roof or perhaps do a complete replacement of it?

There are many good points to consider when making the decision to repair or replace your structures existing roof. No one knows your roof’s history better than you do. You were more than likely there when it was installed and you know if the installation was done by a professional contractor or just a fly by night neighbor who claimed to be a good roofer.

When you examine the roof, if you notice that 40% of the roof itself is damaged, you may want to go ahead and replace the entire roof. If when examining your roof you notice significant water damage to the actual roofing material or the wooden roof base itself, this also is a great indicator that you’ll be needing a new roof installed.

If the structural damage to your roof was caused by a tornado, hurricane or strong winds and harsh weather, you’ll most certainly need to replace the entire roof for safety reasons. Being safe and staying dry is the number one objective to any roof and when this is no longer the case, the roof should be replaced as soon as possible.

Other important factors to keep in mind when deciding to repair your existing roof or to replace the entire roof is if you think the roof itself may have a structural flaw in the first application. Perhaps the roof was installed by a contractor that used cheap materials or roofing materials that weren’t up to code standards.

Prior water damage due to roof leakage may have caused mold to form in the roof structure itself. In this case you’ll need to replace the roof. A great sign of water and mold damage in your roof is if the ceilings or walls in your home have water marks from the leakage of the roof itself. This can usually be repaired at the site of the leak on the roof itself.

Missing shingles can cause roof leaks and these leaks may also be a simple repair of just replacing the missing shingle or shingles. Any damage from a falling tree onto the roof itself is a great indication that internal roof damage may lead to a total roof replacement.

If you are ever in doubt of whether you should repair your roof or replace your roof, a great way to know for sure is to contact a professional contractor and have them do an inspection of your entire roof.

A shingled roof that is properly installed will give you and your family a full 20 years or more of service and remain leak free. If you’ve had your roof on your home for 10 or more years and you are starting to notice torn shingles or missing shingles or water leaking or damage, it may be a matter of just replacing a few shingles for your roof’s repair.