Is It Time to Check Your Roof?
By Jim Palmer Jr.

If you are like me, you may have waited too long to inspect your roof before the snows come.   During a mega wind storm, I was startled to hear from my wife that, “part of our roof and chimney was sitting on the front lawn.”  This was a sorrowful reminder that I had forgotten to tighten a few loose screws that I had noticed this summer.  The  storm (the worst in over 126 years) had beaten me to the punch. 

A roof inspection is one of those preventative maintenance items that is procrastinated the most, probably because none of us want to climb up on our roof.   My roof is an 8/12 pitch and is slick metal, so it makes me squeamish to climb up there.  You may be able to skip the climb though and use a pair of binoculars instead of a ladder!  The less you walk around up there the better for your roofing and safer for you!  A once-per-summer roof inspection may be something you should add to your calendar.
You should look for cracked caulking or worn boots around vent pipes or chimneys, missing or damaged shingles, loose screws, worn shingles, and accumulation of moss.  Check out your chimney cap and condition of your gutters while you’re at it. 

An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure!   I don’t know for sure, but I bet with a bit of preventative investigation, my recent repair project may have been alleviated.  I don’t know if you’ve checked roofing prices lately, but it certainly isn’t cheap! 

If you are considering selling your home, it may be good timing for that roof inspection.   You may be facing an expensive replacement if your roof has less than 5 years of life.  Appraisers are on the alert for this type of deferred maintenance, so you may be facing additional expense when you least expect it.

One thing you can do to preserve your roof’s life is to clear your roof of moss in the fall by applying a moss killer, then in the spring broom off the remaining dead moss.  Great care must be taken to avoid damaging the shingles or creating extra wear.  Also, when clearing heavy snow loads from your roof on extra tough winters, take precautions to avoid damaging the shingles in any way.