The leading causes of roof damage in Denver and Colorado Springs
At Integrity Roofing and Painting, our Denver roofers look at themselves as guardians, charged with protecting your roof from those things which intend on damaging it. It is an age-old and epic struggle, but one which our roofers usually come out of victorious. As the revered Chinese general Sun Tzu put it, “If you know both yourself and your enemy, you can win numerous battles without jeopardy”. As roofers, the enemies of your roof are our enemies, and we know them well…very well. In this post we’ll explore the most frequent causes of damages to your roof, so that you can get to know your enemies as well. Well may a little bit dramatic that the following items are enemies, they certainly have the potential of negatively impacting your roof.
High winds and hail forecasted!
Wind
The most common image we all have of this enemy of your roof is in the form of intense, tornado or derecho winds which tear through your shingles and flashing, leaving behind a beaten and battered roof that no longer can serve the purpose that it is meant to serve. While this type of wind is certainly a challenging nemesis for every roofer, it is important to know this enemy in all of its forms. Over time, even moderate winds can loosen nails in your roofing materials. When nails become loose, the strength of the wind required to damage your roof lessons, making your roof even more vulnerable. As long as the roof was properly installed with the correct nail patter and the nails properly set than the potential for wind damage is minimized. Of course, if a tornado or straight line winds from a derecho occur the shingles are likely to be damaged. The negative air pressure from these weather events are tremendous and do a considerable amount of damage to roofs.
Dysfunctional Flashing
Poor flashing design
The singular purpose of the flashing on your roof is to create a water-tight boundary between sections of your, roofing materials and other parts of the house, and between roofing materials and roof projections. When this flashing is rendered dysfunctional by elements such as wind or hail, the likelihood of your roof leaking increases substantially. As the guardians of your roof, our roofers know that checking that status of your roofs’ flashing regularly is critical in preventing far more costly damage. Besides wind or hail creating functional damage to flashing the number one issue with flashing would be that it was insufficient to begin with. Every roof installer needs to have adequate training and understanding the dynamic function of each piece of flashing that is being installed. The principal is the same for each piece of flashing installed is designed to divert water from the area that it’s protecting. Chimney flashing, wall flashing and the flashing around skylights are vulnerable areas where water can easily penetrate if the flashing is insufficiently installed. Add a lot of wind driven rain and you might find some serious property damage.
Hail
Your roof is put under constant strain simply by being outside in the elements, and those natural elements put wear and tear on your roof, and can cause damage over time. Because everyday elements of the natural climate only cause damage over long periods of time, they can be addressed simply with regular roof inspections. The ultraviolet rays begin degrading an asphalt shingle from the date of the install, provided of course that it’s a sunny day. Our next weather event that consistently impacts Denver and Colorado Springs is produced from our constant summer time thunder storm events. A violent thunder storm in our region gives birth to hail stones. These hail stones cause damage that is not at all gradual. When your roof is subjected to hail it can be damaged to a great degree, instantly. The roofers in Denver and Colorado Springs know this enemy well, and have the knowledge to defend against it.
Fight Hail stones by installing a class 4 roof
One of the ways we can help minimize the impact from a hail storm is by installing a class 4 hail impact resistant asphalt shingle. This product is in no way a hail proof roof. As of 2015, a hail proof roof has yet to be created. Over the years I’ve seen clay tile, cement tile, metal roofs, wood shakes, and certainly asphalt shingles damaged from hail stones. A class 4 shingle has to meet underwriter’s laboratories testing standard of U.L. 2218. There are four classes or ratings of shingles and the 2218 testing is for class 4. The testing proceeds as follows, a 2″ steel ball is dispatched from a height of 20 feet. This test is designed for the ball and land on a specified targeted area of the shingle. This will be repeated two times on the same targeted area of the field or center of the shingle. Once again the ball will be dispatched and orchestrated to target the edge of the shingle impacting the edge two times. The lab technician will remove the shingle from the launch pad and visibly inspect the shingle on the front and back side to see if there are any fractures, tears, punctures or cuts in the mat of the shingle. If the shingle is not damaged in any of the ways as described than it will be rated as a class 4 shingle. It has passed the test as a hail impact resistant shingle. If you want to fight hail than this is the way to do it. In addition, to asphalt shingles there are other class 4 rated roof systems on the market. Some of the metal roof systems are class 4. Consider looking at the different manufacturers who produce the stone coated steel roof products. These products have been around for a couple decades and they hold up well in a storm.
We have the solution to the nemesis of roofing companies in Denver
We are one of the roofing companies Denver homeowner’s can trust. Integrity Roofing and Painting is able to perform a roof repair or total roof replacement. This may be a good time to install a wind and hail resistant roof system that is properly flashed. We work well with all of the insurance companies. Please take a look on our home page to see the companies that we work with on a regular basis. Contact Integrity Roofing and Painting for your roofing needs. We make roof replacements easy. At Integrity Roofing and Painting, you’ll find Integrity you can count on!