Spring is in the air! It’s that time of the year when we start to clean out our homes and prepare for the warmer months ahead. As you start to tackle your 2021 Spring Cleaning, it’s imperative that you remember to check on the health of your roof as well.
Spring cleaning preparation for your roof looks a lot different than the spring cleaning you’re used to doing around the house.
Those of us from the Boston area are all familiar with the normal spring cleaning checklist (dusting, sorting, mopping, etc) to get your home ready to open those windows wide and let in the fresh spring air. However, when we are talking about spring cleaning for our roof there are a few items you may not be as familiar with…
There are at least five major items you should focus on when doing your spring season roof check in.
1. Clean your gutters!
This is easily the most important item on your roof spring cleaning list. Your roof has taken on a lot over the past few months and unfortunately for your gutters, they tend to take the grunt of the elements. Your gutters are likely full of leaves, dirt, debri, and possibly even nests and sometimes even wildlife. It is essential that you take the time to clear your gutters to ensure a safe and stable ability for flow during the April showers coming our way.
2. Clear your roof of any debris.
This is such a seemingly simple step in the assessment of your roof health, but just be sure to use the proper tools to clear off your roof so as to not cause any long term damage. We can often see damage done when trying to do this on your own, so be sure to consult with a professional on how to handle this.
3. Check your roof for missing/damaged shingles.
Whether it be by trying to clear the debris from your roof or simply roughing the elements over the winter, it is extremely likely that your roof has gone through some tough times. Whether that be dramatic effects from the wind such as a shingle completely missing from your roof, or as substantial as a damaged shingle hanging on by a thread. The roof shingles are your roof protection, and so any sort of damaged or missing shingles means trouble. If you think about it this way, your shingles are the protective layer that is saving your actual roof from the elements, and any damage to your shingle means that there is a high possibility of damage to the roofing underneath the shingle. This could result in anything such as leaking and/or mold.
4. Check your ventilation.
This is something that is often overlooked when thinking about what is important to a healthy roof. If you have poor ventilation in your attic, that can mean that you are causing a lot of moisture build up resulting in damage to the roof from the inside. Be sure to take the time to go up in your attic this year to see and feel what is happening up there… If you feel like you are being faced with an issue, be sure to reach out for help before the problem gets worse.
5. Check your surrounding area.
This final check-in is actually one of the most overlooked, but still important items on your spring cleaning checklist. In the areas that we service around Newton, Weymouth, Braintree and South Boston (to name a few), we tend to notice some significant foliage that can directly affect your home so be sure to take notice of the surrounding trees in your area and how they might be affecting your roof’s health.
Spring cleaning is never fun, but the importance of it can never be lost.
While we know looking into the items we’ve listed here isn’t necessarily the most exciting, we can promise that this checklist is essential to a healthy roof for the Spring ahead.
The items we’ve listed here can be tough to do on your own, so please feel free to contact us today for a free consultation on how we here at Flynn Roofing can help!