Your roof is a crucial element in protecting your home. While your foundation holds the structure of your home from the bottom up, the roof keeps all of nature’s elements out from the top down. There is a constant barrage of things hitting your roof. Rain, snow, sleet, and the occasional tree branch are all kept out of your home by the integrity of your roof. Two elements have the potential to cause the most damage to the structure of your roof. Hail and wind are forces that cause some roofing materials to buckle under pressure.
What do the shingles on your roof do?
It’s good to review what the shingles do on your roof before we begin to discuss the possible damage that could occur to them. There are many types of shingles on Omaha-area exteriors, and each type’s primary job is to become the first layer of protection for your roof and, ultimately, your home. You may have asphalt, fiberglass, wood, slate, or solar shingles lining the outside of your roof. Each type of shingle comprises different materials, as you can likely guess from their description. There are two main functions of shingles, regardless of the type.
- Keep the elements out of your home and protect the structure’s integrity.
- They act as the initial defense against the primary roofing material on your home by shedding water into your gutter system and away from the home. The shingles are placed on the roof by an Omaha exterior company, overlapping one another so that the water runs down them and into the gutters without leaking onto the base layer of the roof. This base layer is often plywood lined with a felt material.
- Create the aesthetics for your home by adding shape, color, and texture.
- Your home was designed with a particular style. Most American homes are topped off with asphalt shingles in a complimenting color to the home. However, if you have a historic home, you may have slate tiles on the roof. Dutch Colonial homes may be topped with wood shingles. Today, as we move forward with cleaner energy choices, many Omaha-area exteriors have also seen the addition of solar panels.
How can Hail Hurt your Roof?
Hailstorms, which are common in the midwest, tend to come on fast, and there is really no simple way to protect your roof from them. If you have ever been hit with a piece of hail, you know how badly it hurts. Some storms produce even larger sizes of hail with the potential for significant damage.
Each time a sizeable icy ball bounces off your roof, it could damage your shingles. Asphalt shingles could lose the granules that allow the rain to run off them. Wooden and slate shingles could become chipped or even broken. Today’s solar panels are built to withstand hail and wind, but if a storm is severe, even they may experience damage. In addition to your shingles, your gutters may also become dented. These minor dents could cause water to run out in the wrong places. Without the water being fed away from your home, the foundation could also experience damage.
What kind of Damage does Wind do to your Roof?
There have been several significant storms on the news lately. We hear the term frequently, hurricane-force winds, and wonder what does that term actually mean? To be classified as hurricane-force winds, the wind has to be gusting at 74 mph. Have you ever driven a convertible on the road going over 75 mph? The wind is terrible. Everything in the car has the potential to be blown out and strewn all over the roadway. The same thing happens to the materials of your roof during such winds. The shingles on your roof could begin to blow off at just 45 mph. Each shingle that gets blown off exposes the primary material underneath. If any rain is associated with the wind, these materials are instantly exposed to water which could cause a leak into your home. Beyond shingles, you could also lose gutters, downspouts, and flashing designed to keep the water away. If any of these become loose, contact an Omaha exterior company quickly to limit the potential for further damage.
Your roof is the primary protector of your home and personal belongings. If you are at all concerned about its integrity or have experienced damage from wind or hail, Homewise Roofing & Exteriors is here to help. Our dedicated and trained team works to build a relationship with you and your home. Knowing you and your roof allows us to act quickly if wind, hail, or any other element should cause damage. Contact us if you have any concerns about your roof or want to better understand its makeup.
