When the horizon darkens and thunder grumbles, you know to batten down the hatches and prepare for a storm—and every Minnesotan knows the telltale green hue in the sky that signals possible tornado weather. Luckily, in all but the most extreme circumstances, your home, if well-maintained, should come out of it only needing minor repairs.
However, certain points of damage can predispose your home to fail in the face of hail, wind, rain, and more. If you’ve been skimping on your home repair services, you’ll pay the price for it later. Luckily, Tony’s Lifetime Exteriors, your Sauk Rapids roofing contractors and storm damage professionals, is here to help. Below, you’ll discover a few signs that your home might not hold up to the next storm well and what you can do about it.
Your Roof Has Ventilation Problems
Wait—how can something that primarily affects the inside of your roof change how the outside holds up to the weather? Well, your roof operates as a system; every part of it is specially designed to take care of, or account for the inherent weaknesses of, another. Thus, while well-maintained, the system is flawless, but it can quickly fall apart if neglected.
Such is the case indeed with ventilation problems. As we covered in our roofing company blog on the topic, insufficient ventilation can cause frost and condensation to build up in the roof space. This, in turn, can weaken wooden aspects of your roof, such as your roof deck, or promote corrosion if it’s made of metal. To learn more about roof decking, consult Upgraded Home.
When the roof decking is worn through, though, that’s one less protective layer your roof has to protect your family from the elements. And when those elements strike in the form of a storm, such dilapidated structures rarely, if ever, fare well.
What to Do About it
Roofs are complex structures, and each one is made a little differently, as we detailed in another one of our roofing contractor blogs. Some, for example, handle their ventilation needs with vents, while others are made to do without. If you suspect you have ventilation issues, we recommend getting a roof repair specialist out to the premises ASAP. They can look at your room as a whole system and deduce if it’s really ventilation that’s the problem, or if it’s one of its numerous, yet just as dastardly, mimics.
Your Shingles Are Falling Off
A well-kept roof makes a home that’s a joy to behold, but if your shingles are sloughing off the side of your gutters, there are plenty more things at stake than your home’s cosmetic appearance (though that’s an important aspect, too). Understand that shingles generally don’t come in singular units; instead, as is common with asphalt roofing, they come in strips a few pieces long. When one shingle starts to look a little wonky in angle, then it’s not just that shingle that’s at risk from storm damage, but the whole area of the roof.
Additionally, these large chunks of material can act as flying projectiles in high winds, as can torn pieces of siding. Neither of these are good things when trying to reduce the potential for storm damage!
What to Do About it
Again, we recommend calling a roofing contractor. You could attempt to repair the shingles on your own, but working at such great heights without the proper equipment—the type common in professional spheres—is downright unsafe, and we don’t endorse it. Furthermore, a pro will be able to best ascertain and match old shingles to the new, having years of experience in the trade. You don’t want to end up with patchwork roofing, after all!
Your Siding Is Rotting Through
As we covered in our siding contractor blog surrounding it, dry rot is an affliction that strikes purely wooden siding. We cover the subject in its entirety there, but for the purposes of storm damage, know this: it drastically weakens your siding. While it may degrade it to the point that you don’t have much to worry about in the way of projectiles, weakened siding can still easily be torn off in a stiff breeze. This leaves your home unprotected and at-risk of everything from water damage to hail.
What to Do About it
Replace that wooden siding! Not only is it expensive and difficult to maintain, but it also is incredibly vulnerable to natural decay in the form of pests and fungus. A much tougher product that your storm restoration pro will likely recommend is engineered wood siding from brands like LP. It contains natural wood, but in addition to other materials that safeguard it from harm.
Tony’s Lifetime Exteriors: Five-Star Storm Damage Repair, Roofing, and More
Our team of roofing and exterior renovation pros can handle anything the weather can throw at your home. Reach our Sauk Rapids office today at 320-252-9086.