Your roof is built to take a beating. It’s specifically engineered to withstand moisture in the form of rain, snow, and ice, and can even withstand being baked under a hot sun through summer. However, your roof is designed to withstand sustained threats. Where it can fail is with sudden changes in the weather, which makes spring a particularly challenging season for your roof.
Spring is Our Windy Season & Here’s Why
As soon as the temperatures begin to rise we emerge from our burrows after hibernating all winter. Yet, those warming temperatures are often rendered unenjoyable by the immense about of wind that spring also brings with it.
Why is spring so darn windy? There are multiple reasons, chiefly among them is the sun’s increased angle relative to the surface of the earth. As the sun hits the ground more directly, it warms that ground, bringing with it an influx of moist air that rises, leaving a void in its wake that is promptly filled. This filling of space causes surface wind. In spring, this phenomenon is increased exponentially due to the sudden, warm temperatures and the moist ground.
Wind Gusts Are Hard on Asphalt Shingles
Wind Gusts Are Hard on Asphalt ShinglesShingles are made to last. However, sudden, severe wind gusts can certainly throw them for a loop. If high winds hit your shingles at the right angle, they can enact a sort of prying motion—a pry bar made out of thin air, if you will.
If you apply this force enough times (as spring will do), you eventually will introduce a point of failure. Suddenly, a once-sturdy shingle comes loose, flapping against the wind, or worse yet, it flies off entirely and lands somewhere in your neighbor’s yard.
Missing or Loose Shingles Mean Moisture in Your Home
The shingle’s primary goal is to deflect and divert water from your roof, where it runs down a slope, into your gutters, and finally into your region’s watershed. Shingles overlap precisely so water can find the path of least resistance to go down that slope.
When a shingle is loose or missing, much of that water will seep through the opening as it flows away. While most of the water will skip over that defective shingle, enough will get through that it will eventually become a problem. Any amount of water in your interior is bad news. Wood will succumb to mold and mildew in just a day or two of being wet. If that wood is continually re-moistened by a failing roof, then that mold will have a field day.
Let Us Start Your Spring with a Roof Inspection
A missing shingle or two is no problem at all if you catch it in time. It takes almost no time for a roofing professional to install replacement shingles, and those replacements will be just as effective (or more effective) as the original.
However, it’s when you don’t inspect your roof that you run into problems. There is no out of sight, out of mind when it comes to your roof. In actuality, you’re much better off knowing exactly what’s going on up there. No, we aren’t suggesting you by a ladder and stomp around up there yourself. Call us for an inspection after a particularly windy spell and we’ll give you the peace of mind of knowing whether everything’s okay up there, or if you’ll need some minor repairs.