How To Spot Issues With Your Roof – A Homeowners Guide

Have you noticed a musty smell in your upstairs bedrooms when it has been raining? Are you noticing roof shingles starting to appear in your driveway?

When your roof is compromised, it can escalate quickly into damage to your home, as well as a costly repair to your roof. So, for homeowners, it is well worth being educated on how to spot a problem with your home’s roof.

Water Stains on Ceilings

Water stains on the ceilings of your upper floor are a simple sign that there are issues with your roof, and that you need to contact roof repair contractors.

When they dry, water stains usually look like brown patches on your ceiling and, if there is an extreme leak, they can cause mold to form, which is visually unsightly and can lead to secondary health issues.

Another thing to keep an eye out for on your upper floors is peeling paint or even peeling wallpaper. Both can signify an issue with water coming into your home via your roof and should be explored for the underlying cause.

Debris

Come fall, winter, and spring, homeowners are advised to clear out the gutters on their roofs.

One reason is to ensure that any water that comes off the roof is drained away from the home, and another reason is to check for signs of issues with shingles. It may seem like looking for a needle in a haystack, but a common sign that there are problems with your roofing is bits of roof tile appearing in your guttering, as well as grit on the exterior of the shingles. If you spot this, you should contact a roofing team to assess the condition of the shingles on your roof. If you have a metal roof, keep your eyes peeled for metal flakes or rusted metal flakes accumulating around your guttering.

Sagging Roof

Who really spends time looking at their roof?

For many people, it can take years for them to spot that their roof may have a dip or a sag on one side, and, typically, other signs of roof damage will present before it gets to this point. Of course, if you notice that there is a dip in your roof or that there is guttering that is bowing or tilting, this is a sign that there is water buildup somewhere under your shingles, which will usually require a roofer to assess the severity.

Missing Shingles

Missing shingles are a sign that there is an issue with your roof, or that there will be soon!

Missing shingles can be due to the age of the roof, extreme weather conditions (such as wind and rain), as well as secondary damage caused by falling branches. Either way, once a shingle has fallen off the roof, it is vulnerable to water damage and even debris accumulation, which can lead to secondary water damage.

So, it is advised for homeowners to visually inspect their roofs at least once a year. Loose shingles are harder to spot than missing ones, so you may also need to get a very tall ladder!