KEEPING YOUR ROOF HEALTHY

I am so excited because this blog launches my Home Maintenance Blog Series!! This series covers the basics of home maintenance and what you need to be doing on a consistent basis to be prolonging the life of your home. Ready to jump right in? I thought so……today, we’re going to be looking at roof maintenance, what you need to be doing and why you need to be doing it (okay, besides the obvious, because it looks better….duh). My roof is a mid-slope, asphalt shingle roof which is what I will be discussing today.

 

My roof prior to cleaning last week (relatively clean)

What I Use

• My tools are pretty simple:
• Electric blower
• Extension cord (long enough to access my whole roof)
• 8′ A-frame ladder for accessing my roof

 

Roof Maintenance – The Ins and Outs

Keeping your roof free of leaves, pine needles, sticks, and any other debris is vital to the longevity of your roof. When leaves build up, they retain moisture, and will begin to decompose on your roof. This creates a wet, composting mess on your roof. This generally is concentrated in the valleys and behind any flashing at vent pipes, skylights, chimneys, dormers, etc. Along with that, comes increased speed of break-down of your asphalt shingles. The roof is one of the most expensive components of your home that you will replace. Obviously we want to get the most out of it we can.

 

Leaves collecting behind flashing diverting water away from my front door

 

Leaves and sticks beginning to gather in valley and across roof surface

 

My chimney

 

Skylights above the patio

 

 

So how often do you need to perform this roof maintenance? It depends on many factors….number of trees, time of year, geographical location, types of trees, etc. Because I live in the South, we have leaves fall from about October through December. I have several sweet gum trees around my house which not only drop leaves and twigs, but also those dreaded sweet gum balls…..spiky little monsters. My roof has been blown off three times this year (beginning in November). The best way to determine how often you need to clean is just simply to look at your roof. If leaves and debris are building up in the valleys and scattered across the roof, you need to clean it. Some homes in neighborhoods with few large trees may need little if any cleaning.

The above pictures show a relatively clean roof. Back in the fall after the majority of the leaves fell, it was a very different story.

I don’t have a picture of the roof, but here is a photo of my boyfriend standing in the pile he just blew off the roof. He doesn’t look very amused does he? He got to blow the fall collection, and I got to blow the mid-winter miscellaneous collection……not very fair….haha oops!

 

I’m pretty sure he was thinking….”ok, your turn”

 

What You Should Know

Always blow down towards the ground. Asphalt shingles are installed overlapping each other, with the ends free. This allows them to shed the majority of the water down. If you blow up and against the shingles, the shingles will flap which can damage and even break them.

 

Blow towards the ground

 

I  begin at one end of the roof at the ridge and work my way down blowing the debris off the roof. I  then work my way all the way down one side of the roof and then move to the other side and repeat.

Do not step on the roof ridge or right next to roof penetrations near the flashing. This can damage these areas.

 

Look at that clean roof

There will likely be leaves built up in the valleys and behind penetrations in the roof such as chimneys, skylights, and vent pipes (did you see the photos above?!). Pay extra attention to these areas. You may have to gently scrape with your shoe to loosen the composting material underneath before blowing it off. (If you blow your roof often enough, say once per month, you hopefully won’t have this issue.) We have had so much rain the past two months, that there hasn’t been a clear window to get up and clean the roof so this was an issue last week when I finally had a sunny day to get on the roof.

 

Wet composting material left behind after I blew the dry leaves off

 

After scraping the “dirt” loose and re-blowing

 

Another example of the composting material left behind at my skylight flashing

 

 

And after!

 

If you are using an electric blower, be careful as the cord can get stuck underneath the overlap of the shingles. Just be aware, and if you feel resistance, don’t yank….check your cord!

Pine needles can get stuck underneath the shingles. I pull these out by hand or scrape with my shoe.

 

The finished product……a nice clean roof

 

Time to Party

You now have completed your roof maintenance, gotten a core workout from swinging that blower, and your home is now the envy of the neighborhood…..but more importantly, you can rest easy knowing you have just slowed the aging of your roof. And as a late twenty-something, I can definitely attest that we are all trying to slow the aging process, am-I-right??

So now you can go sit on your patio, kick up your feet, and enjoy an adult beverage…or a sweet tea…or whatever floats your boat.

Don’t miss a week. If you haven’t already, you can sign up here to begin receiving the Home Maintenance Blog Series directly to your inbox. Until next time….

Xoxo,

Amanda

 

***Steel Toed Stilettos, LLC and its sole owner, Amanda Miller cannot be held responsible for your safety, your use of power tools, or outcome of any home improvement/DIY projects you choose to undertake and/or complete. Amanda Miller is not a licensed engineer and therefore all designs are what she has found to work for her personal use and neither she nor Steel Toed Stilettos LLC will be held responsible for any injury, illness, or other claims associated with her designs, plans, or projects.***