Most of the time the roof is the first thing you notice on a house, especially if it’s a bad roof. Unsightly, mismatched roof tiles, broken gutters or a big blue tarp lying over a house is unattractive and an eyesore. If you are in the market for a new roof and/or new gutters it’s not as simple as you think it is. There are so many more options available to really customize your roof to the style of your house, or to the style of the people living in the house. You want to give people something to look at and to be the first thing they notice about your house, but in a good way.
1. Look at lots of different roofing material before you decide which one you want. You can always look online or thru a catalog, but the best thing is to actually go out and look at other houses. Drive around your neighborhood, or city, and look at houses and see which roofs and gutters stand out to you. If you see one that you like, take a picture or write down the address. Roofing companies can often drive by houses and know exactly what material is on a roof.
2. Before you make the decision to invest your nest egg in your roof, asses how long you are going to be living in your house. The average life of a roof is 20 years. If you are only going to be in your house 10-15 years, it’s not worth the investment to purchase an upgraded longer lasting roof. A standard 20-year roof will be just fine for you and worth your investment. If you plan to grow old in your house, then upgrading to a 50-year, lifetime or specialty roof would be worth your investment.
3. Remember that the cheapest roofing material isn’t always the best. Patching up your roof is not always the best way to fix roof problems. A shingle here and there is fine, but when your roof starts looking like a patchwork quilt, you might need to start thinking about getting a whole new roof. Remember that while your roof may appear to be in good shape, the plywood, underside of the shingles and underlayment may have issues that you can’t detect from an inspection of the surface of the roof. And you lose five years off a shingle’s life when you layer it over an old shingle, so you aren’t doing yourself any financial favors by just patching up your roof.
4. Downspout placement is crucial. If you have a basement that is collecting water, or start to notice water pooling around your foundation at the base of your downspout, you most likely will need to move your downspouts. The downspouts are designed to carry the water from your roof away from your house, not give it a nice entrance into your house!
Proper maintenance of your roof will help add years to your roof and prolong the need to replacement. If you keep your roof clean, keep debris off and make repairs, you can get an extra five years out of your roof. If you ever have questions or concerns about your roof you can always contact Yorkshire Roofing and they can help you out.