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How to Protect Your Roof from Storm Damage

Ever wondered what steps you need to take to protect your roof from storm damage? You’ve come to the right place.

Everybody has or knows somebody that experienced some form of storm damage before. Whether it was hail, rain-induced leaking in a house, or severe winds like hurricanes; everybody has encountered the not-so-nice side of mother nature. And it’s important to be well equipped with a sturdy roof and excellent roofing contractors who provide exceptional roofing services too. However, sometimes you may be left in a situation where this does not happen.

But is it possible to never go through that? I’d say likely not, but lucky for you we could try our best to follow some safe and common guidelines specifically around protecting the roof on your house. 

What Kind of Damage Can a Storm Potentially Create? 

The thing about storms is that they invite two dangerous scenarios, either by themselves or as a united front: Heavy rains and strong winds. These two alone can somewhat be manageable, but together they create catastrophes. This is because of the fact that they make each other more damaging when combined. Handling strong winds can be like having a strong foundation built, making sure there’s nothing left outside that could potentially inflict or attract damage such as having your car parked indoors or bringing the trash bins into the garage. Add some heavy rainfall to all this, and you’ve lost your sight, your grip, and the ability for help to arrive sooner.

Important things to Consider About Roofing Damage Due To Weather Issues

Now that we know what could be heading our way, what steps can we take to make sure we’re prepared in some form or another to minimize our losses? That kind of depends on what type of storm is heading our way. A rainstorm would be different from a windstorm because you have different forces of mother nature trying to break you down. For the sake of not being able to cover every single scenario possible, we’ll cover the need-to-know foundations so we have a general idea of what to expect. To add, if you live near an ocean or large body of water where the area tends to have strong winds, make sure you’ve educated yourself on the possibilities of tsunamis, hurricanes and tornadoes.

What You Need and Should Have Available

Typically, and more specific towards storms that involve things falling out the sky like heavy rainfall or even heavier things like hail, the first step is to make sure our defense hasn’t taken a hit in the past. Look over the roof for any cracks, dents, or loose screws to ensure your first layer is strong. Next, you might want to look into getting a second layer of protection, such as adding hurricane clips for extra reinforcement. They tend to cost a few hundred dollars, but there is no cost too expensive when it comes to protecting your home. And who wants to deal with expensive roof leak repairs anyways?

Now that your roof is looking good, you want to at least cover the exterior and have something protecting you from storm damage; enter roof tarps. Ever seen a house that was trying to fly with its large blue blanket made out of plastic-looking things? Yeah, those are roof tarps and they can be really helpful when it comes to strong winds and water related damages (also they’re made out of polyethylene, not plastic). They’re mostly used for avoiding heavy water piling on your roof, and for things that could fly onto the roof and cause some damage. 

Other things you could look into adding are a temporary roof if your current roof has sustained previous damage or if you, for some strange reason, don’t have a roof installed. I’d like to think for those who don’t have one installed that it’s not intentionally that way.

Why Your Gutters Have a Say in All This

The gutters are connected to your roof. And in order to really avoid damages, your gutter plays a role too! A couple things to look out for with your gutters is any previous damage they’ve had like loose parts/screws, that it’s not fully intact, and that there’s no holes where they shouldn’t be that could lead to leaks in places you don’t want them.

Make an Investment into Protecting Your Roof (And Protect It From Storm Damage)

Some will say it’s expensive, others will say it’s too much work, however protecting your roof can literally save you from buying a whole other house! There are many residential roofing companies that can help you create a strong foundation and prevent any major repairs in the future.

To put that into perspective, let’s play a quick would you rather to end things off. Would you rather pay a couple thousand to have a defense plan setup to minimize your losses, or pay a couple hundred thousand because you now need to live in a motel for a month before moving into and purchasing a new home? The latter does not seem like the way to go. 

Conclusion: How To Protect Your Roof From Storm Damage

It’s important to do the right things to protect your roof from storm damage. In doing so you’ll save lots of money in the long run. Companies such as United Chimney and Roofing can help protect your roof from storm damage in a number of ways. If you are located in NJ choose United Chimney and Roofing. Take a look at their services here to learn more.

We hope you have learned how to protect your roof from storm damage and wish you all the best.