How Summer Heat Can Damage Your Roof?
Summer’s here—and man, is it hot out there. If you’re like millions of Americans this season, then chances are, you’re indoors, cranking that sweet air conditioning and only daring to step out if there’s a promise of a dip in the pool or an even sweeter ice cream cone.
Your roof, however, doesn’t get a break. The roof tackles constant battering of intense rays of the sweltering sun. Homeowners wonder: what damage is the sun wreaking on my roof?
Unfortunately, if you don’t have big, shady trees casting shadows to protect your roof from the sun, your roof can suffer from serious damage from the intense heat.
Humidity Can Damage Your Roof
It’s not just the heat that’ll damage your roof. It’s also the humidity. This factor comes into effect when there’s moisture in the air, and combined with high temperatures, your roof can face some serious, water-related damages.
Humidity and heat together make up most of the weather experienced by homeowners and roofs alike across the United States. Unless you’re in the drier states like Arizona, New Mexico, or Texas, where it’s dry heat that reigns over the summer months, the vast majority of Americans and their roofs will have some kind of humid, muggy summer weather to get the best of them.
The summer heat coupled with high humidity can make way for dangerous storms, too, and the more exposure your roof gets to water, the more damages it takes onto its already vulnerable surface. Should a storm rip off a shingle, your roof is in bad luck.
That kind of exposure to summer downpours and humidity means moisture will undoubtedly find its way through your roof. You can expect leaks, staining, and warped structures.
Moisture can become trapped beneath your roof’s shingles, as condensation is an effect that can set in, resulting in water damage. This problem is expounded if your roof isn’t waterproof, as water will always take the path with the gravitational pull and least amount of obstacles, easily finding its way underneath the protective layers of your roof.
Homeowners know to fear the word “moisture”, and veteran homeowners know to do anything they can to protect their home, roof included, against this detrimental element.
Roof Damage from Degradation
Roofs are subject to crippling beneath exposure to the sun’s harmful UV rays. And the older the roof is, the worse it will show and experience this sun-related damage. You’ll notice on older roofs, shingles may be curled upward and deteriorating, which is a sure-sign of sun exposure over its lifetime.
Peeling, buckling, and eroding—these are just a few indications that it’s time to replace your roof and that it’s suffered enough degradation from sun exposure.
If your roof is two decades old and suffering from these obvious signs of heat damage, then it’s definitely time to call in the professionals for a replacement.
Thermal Shock
Roofing systems can suffer from thermal shock when they expand in the heat and contract with the cooler air, straining due to this sudden rise and fall of temperatures. Like degradation, the older the roof, the more detrimental it is for the roof’s surface. Over time, thermal shock can weaken your roof, splitting open its surface, making an opening for moisture and water for even more damage.
Here, you’ll see peeling, shingle disfiguration, splitting, and cracking. If you live in an area prone to fussy, temperamental weather (see: Midwestern states), where one day it’s sunny and a warm eighty, only to be greeted the next morning with a surprisingly cool sixty-degree day, then you’ll want to keep your eye on your roof for thermal shock.
Discoloration On Your Roof
It makes sense that the sun would have an effect in draining the color of your once- bright shingles, as it does with anything left in the path of its powerful UV rays. You may wonder if discoloration really impacts the roof’s ability to do its job—it does.
The color of the shingle matter because they work to reflect the sun’s light, staving off the heat damage as best as it can against its surface and the rest of the house. Not only does its reflective capabilities depend on the coloring and coating of the shingles to shake off the sun, but it helps keep the inside of the home cool.
Temperature regulation is everything with a roof, and a decade-old roof with discoloration among other things like cracked or missing shingles simply won’t compare to the effects of a new one. The internal temperatures of your home will feel significantly cooler with a new roof.
What Your Roof Should Do For You
A roof over your head should be more than a roof over your head. A well-built, new roofing system will regularize the internal temperatures of your home, conserving energy in a big way (as you’ll notice on those monthly energy bills), repel moisture to prevent water damage, and reflect the rays of the sun even during the hottest summers. The roofing system should have shingles with a reflective coating, ventilated to prevent heat build-up, and a gutter system to help guide rainwater away from not just its surface, but from your house entirely.
More importantly, there is something you can do for your roof. Roof inspections are a crucial element in keeping your roof maintained and preventing heat damage. Replace shingles immediately and have a professional examine your roof on a yearly basis. You’ll extend its longevity and your roof will thank you for it.
Replacing Your Damaged Roof
Roof repair is only a temporary fix and most homeowners will greatly appreciate the benefits from replacing the roof entirely. Consider everything from great energy efficiency to cost-saving energy costs, you’ll have it all once you replace your roof with Feldco.
We simply have the highest quality asphalt shingles reinforced with triple layer protection that will keep your roof resistant to high windows and extreme weather elements. Speak to a product specialist and get a free quote online today.
