Extending the life of your roof

Image Credit: LGC Roofing - Roof maintenance

You can extend the life of your roof and save on summertime air conditioning expenses simultaneously by making sure your attic and garage roofs are properly ventilated. Excessive heat in the summer will degrade asphalt roofing shingles much faster than what they have been rated for.

There is also a significant advantage to your cooling costs in the summer as well - in the summer improperly ventilated attic temperatures can become very hot, and that tends to make your air conditioning work overtime, even with good insulation.

You may be asking "Won't the heat loss in the winter have the opposite effect if I ventilate? Should I seal off my vents in the winter?" The answer is no, for two reasons:

First, the attic heats in the summer due to direct sunlight, not because of the general outdoor temperature. You don't have this effect in the winter. In the winter you have approximately the same temperature in the attic as is outdoors (if well insulated). So sealing the vents accomplishes very little.

Second, the attic needs to have ventilation during the winter for moisture removal. If the vents are sealed entirely you'll run into moisture problems that may not be noticeable until bigger problems result, such as attracting termites, dry rot, or warping that can cause leaks. If there are kitchen or bathroom vents potentially adding moisture to the attic air, the need for proper attic ventilation increases.

Some extra things you can do:

• Make sure there are no tree branches shedding leaves to the roof.
• visually inspect the roof. Many problems can be caught early enough to keep the problem minimal.
• During the first rainy season, take the time to inspect inside the attic for dampness or leaks. If you're doing this yourself, be careful where you step; the drywall cannot hold any weight whatsoever. And bring a strong flashlight, with a small or dim light it's easy to miss something.

With a little attention you can make your roof last years longer, and avoid other expensive problems such as water damage from a leaking roof.

Sources: LGC Roofing, QualitySmith Roofing, Qualitysmith Air Conditioning