A new roof for your home is no small investment, potentially costing thousands of
dollars. It is for this reason alone that it is so important to take action now to extend the
life of your roof. This will mean fewer replacements and repairs over the life of your
home and will help prevent damage from taking place beneath the surface of your roof
too. Below are a few small things you can do that will have a big impact on your roof’s
lifespan.
1) Keep Your Gutters Clean and Your Roof Clear of Moss and Leaves
While most people associate clogged gutters with water ruining the siding on your home
or seeping into your basement and crawl spaces, it can also cause problems for your
roof as well. Sitting water, wherever it may be, can cause the wood along your roof to
rot below the surface of the shingles. Repairing this damage can be extremely costly.
Failing to repair the damage in a timely manner can cost even more. Gutters should be
cleaned twice a year; first thing in the Spring and right after the leaves fall in the Fall.
2) Install a Whole House Fan
Without adequate movement of air within your attic, not to mention ventilation of air out
of your attic, the temperature in there can easily reach 160 degrees. By itself, this helps
to raise the temperature inside your home to levels that are uncomfortably warm.
However, radiant heat from direct sunlight on the outside works with the heat from the
inside to literally bake your roof. This causes your shingles to decay and contributes to
the warping, cracking, and overall weakening of the plywood of your roof. A Whole
House Fan will remove heat from the attic within minutes.
Then there is the moisture that often goes hand in hand with trapped heat. Moisture
causes mold, mildew, rot, and more. Whole House Fans help to remove the moisture
from your attic so that these things do not become problems.
A properly sized Whole House Fan will always take into consideration how many vents
are on the roof, gables, or soffits. Your Whole House Fan installer should analyze the
roof ventilation and add vents as needed.
3) Install an Attic Fan
Attic Fans can be installed in conjunction with a Whole House Fan or you can install an
attic fan by itself. There are two kinds of attic fans; gable end vent fans or roof top fans.
They can be wired into 110 volts or they also come in solar power. The down side of the
solar fans is that they do not move as much air because the motors are smaller than a
110 volt wired fan.
An Attic Fan will cool your attic and remove moisture like the Whole House Fan but you
will only see a 5-10 degree drop in your inside temperature, whereas a Whole House
Fan can drop the temperature in the home within a few degrees of the outside
temperature. So here in Colorado that means that you could potentially cool your home
to 50+ degrees.
4) Call Roofers to Conduct Annual Inspections
Regular inspections help to identify signs of trouble when they first appear. Making
repairs at the first sign of trouble can extend the life of your roof and eliminate the need
for costly repairs (and extensively damaged property) in the future.
5) Remove Branches that Touch Your Roof
Branches rubbing against your roof in wind storms can damage your shingles through
abrasion or branches can remove shingles altogether. Eliminating these branches
reduces the likelihood of damage to your roof.
Little steps like these can add years of life to your roof and help you avoid many of the
costlier repairs other homeowners have to make all too frequently.
Call Eco Air Solutions of Colorado if you have any questions about the benefits of
installing a Whole House Fan or Attic Fan. Or if you need a reference for a quality roofer
in the Colorado Springs area.