What time of year is hardest on your roof? The cold, rainy winter months? This is what most people believe, but that’s because they don’t realize just how much damage can happen to your roof during the other half of the year: summer. Summer in Texas is known for several things, but most notably the brutal heat and long hours of sunlight and even the occasional thunderstorm or two. All of these things combine to place substantial wear and tear on your roof, leading to lots of issues forming that you may not be aware of.
Why Heat is So Hard on Your Roof
Why is summer such a difficult time for the roof over your head? The answer has to do with the sheer amount of heat your roof will be exposed to. Heat causes most materials to expand, including wood, clay, plastics, and many other substances. As the sun goes down and the heat dissipates, these materials contract and shrink back down to their normal size. While this is a perfectly normal and natural phenomenon, the repeated stretching and shrinking does cause wear and weakening. It also causes cracks to develop as different spots on a particular surface shrink and expand at different rates, and as anyone knows, cracks cause leaks. Therefore, as the days of summer wear on, you may not even know how much damage could be forming in the roof over your head.
Preparing Your Roof for Summer
While you can’t stop the summer heat from taking a toll on your roof (in fact, you build your roof to protect you from that very thing), there are some things you can to limit the amount of damage our roof will sustain. One of the best decisions you can make regarding your roof is to schedule a roof inspection and maintenance service with a professional and experienced Fort Worth commercial roofing company. The technician who examines your roof will know what to look for and be able to spot potential warning signs before they can become serious and lead to major problems for your roof and your business.
When you call a professional for a roofing inspection and maintenance service, they’ll do these three very important steps:
- Examine your roof surface. The surface of your roof is the first and most important line of defense your commercial property has against the elements, so preserving and maintaining it will go a long way towards preventing serious problems from emerging. A roofer will likely go onto your roof and look over the surface in the best way possible, including doing so in a way that minimizes damage to your roof surface, which often happens as a result of foot traffic. By getting up close during an inspection, your professional can spots signs of wear and tear in particular areas, and potentially locate any areas which may have become vulnerable over the last several months. They can also give you a status report as to the health of your roof surface. Even the best roof with the highest-quality materials will only last so long, and an inspection will help you better anticipate when you might have to replace it.
- Check your skylights, vents, chimneys, and other gaps. There’s a really good chance your roof isn’t one solid piece with no gaps all the way around: you probably have vents, skylights, an air conditioning and heating unit, and possibly even a chimney coming out of the top of your roof. Every hole you place in your roof to install one of these items must be sealed with flashing, and over time flashing will gradually wear out, crack, and become porous, much like the rest of your roof, only faster. This makes them extremely vulnerable to leaks. A professional can inspect the flashing around these fixtures and advise you to schedule a replacement service if they find any which need replacement.
- Look for signs of water damage & check drainage. Flat roofs are particularly vulnerable to “ponding” or water sitting stagnant in one spot on the roof, causing that spot to wear far quicker than the rest of the roof and become prone to leaks. In many cases, even the best-designed roofs can become prone to ponding due to material warping, wood deforming, and other factors. A skilled roofer can locate areas that are showing signs of ponding and work with you to figure out a solution to fix the problem and keep your business protected the next time it rains. A professional roofer should also closely inspect your water drainage and clean any gutters or drains that may have become blocked by sticks, dirt, leaves, and other debris that lands on your roof.