A new roof is a costly investment with practical and aesthetic implications – the roof is your home’s most important protection against rain, snow and natures elements. The roof can also significantly impact the appeal of your home in the eyes of potential buyers.
GAF Timberline HD Shingles Roof
This guide will help you make an informed decision when it comes to re-roofing (adding a new layer of roofing to the existing roof) or removing and replacing the old roof.
Seven Signs You Need a New Roof
Here are the indicators that your roof should be re-shingled or replaced to maintain your home’s defense against the elements:
- Shingles are visibly worn: Are there so many of the colored granules gone that your roof looks like it has bald spots? While the shingles might still be keeping moisture out, a lack of reflective granules allows excess heat into your home, raising the temperature inside your house and increasing your air conditioning costs. Furthermore, once exposed, the underlying asphalt will soon dry out and crack, and then your roof will be susceptible to leaks.
- Shingles are cupped and curled:
Curled-up old shingles
This issue looks bad, but more importantly, it means wind-driven moisture can easily get under the shingles and into your roof deck where it might cause leaks and rot.
- Shingles are cracked: The cracked areas aren’t keeping moisture off the deck, and the risk of leaks goes way up.
Cracks or thermal splitting in asphalt shingles
via Structure Tech
- Your neighbors are getting new roofs: This is more than “keeping up with the Joneses.” When homes built about the same time as yours are being re-roofed, your roof is probably about due.
- You’ve experienced multiple leaks: Your roof is an entire structure, not just the shingles. Deck paper, flashing, moisture barrier in valleys, starter shingles, vent stack boots and other components are part of an entire roofing system. As the roof ages and several of its components or locations fail, the roof should be replaced.
- The roof has experienced major damage:
hail damaged roof shingles
If more than about 35% of your roof is going to need repair due to wind or hail, especially if it’s already 12+ years old, the cost-effective decision might be to replace it all.
Repair is costlier on a per square foot basis because it is more time-consuming to integrate new shingles into a roof “here and there” than to install them over the entire roof. Plus, a mix of old shingles and new just won’t look very good.
- Your roof looks bad: Cosmetics and aesthetics do matter to homeowners and potential buyers. If your roof is worn, has algae staining that won’t clean up or has patches of moss on it, boosting its appearance with a new layer of shingles will make a very nice difference.
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If none of these reasons to get a new roof apply, then you’re probably done here! If you’re not sure about your roof’s condition, hiring a home inspector or roofing contractor to inspect it can be a preventative measure before a roof failure and the extensive and expensive damage it can cause.
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