Nine Signs That it is Time for a New Roof

Know when it’s time for a new roof before it starts leaking by heeding these signs.

By Stealthbond

Your roof is likely a goner when these nine things start to happen:

1. You are putting 25 candles on a birthday cake. An asphalt shingle roof usually enjoys 20-30 years of good health, so if you’re singing happy birthday to your roof for the 20th time, it’s probably time to start saving up. And if you’re celebrating its silver anniversary, then it may already be time to shell out for a new one.
2. It just looks old. In some cases, it may be hard to determine exactly how old your roof is. But if you’ve just bought the property, you may want to give it a facelift and enjoy the peace of mind of knowing that your home is well-protected. Depending on your aesthetic, you may prefer something a little more interesting than a standard asphalt roof. In that case, a new metal roof may be in your future. For homeowners who are considering selling, a new roof is mighty appealing to buyers!
3. Your Attic is Trying to Tell You Something Grab a flashlight and take a stroll around your attic. Look for dampness, streaks, and stains. If your house is an older one, and your attic is dry but stained, take photos of the stains and return to the attic after the next heavy rain for a comparison check.
4. Your Shingles Look Like They’re Smiling (or Frowning) They’re not. They’re curling. If your shingles are cupping (smiling) or clawing (frowning), then it’s a safe bet that leaks are right around the corner.
5. You’re Missing Shingles Functionally, replacing missing shingles is a pretty straightforward and inexpensive undertaking. Aesthetically, however, you’ll find that it’s next to impossible to find a perfect color match. Once your roof looks more like a patchwork quilt, it’s time to call it.
6. Like Aging Skin, Your Shingles are Cracking Your roof does the amazing work of protecting your home from the elements and for those who live in coastal areas, snow-prone climates, and in tornado alleys, cracking is pretty common. If you’re just looking at a cracked shingle or two, and you don’t mind the color-match issue, it may be cost-effective to replace damaged shingles. If the damage is extensive, you may want to consider reroofing.
7. Your Gutters are Full of Roofing Granules Be sure to check out your gutters and downspouts after a heavy rainfall and look for bald spots on your roof. If your roof is a teenager or in its 20s, and you see a riverbed’s worth of sand-like roofing granules near the mouth of your gutters or plenty of bald spots on your roof, then it’s time to call in the roofing doctors for a life-expectancy estimate.
8. You Feel the Urge to Keep Up with the Joneses If you live in a neighborhood or subdivision where all of the houses were built at approximately the same time and you’ve started to notice your neighbors splurging on new roofs, it may be time to do the same. It could mean that your roof is nearing the end of its useful life.
9. Your Roofline has a Serious Case of the Sags Even if your shingles are looking pretty good, if your roof is sagging, this could be a serious sign of structural damage to the wood decking, which might need replacing.

Tired of shingle woes? Then it’s time to consider a new screw-free metal roof. Learn more about StealthBond© today.

Note: this first appeared on StealthBond’s blog. The full post can be read here.