Don’t Be Forced To Panic-Choose A Roofer

At the time of writing, we are in the middle of storms and high winds – given we are writing for a British audience it’s probably fair to assume that whenever you are reading, there have either been storms recently or they will come in the near future.

There is much to love about Britain, but you could argue that the climate would not be top of the list.

These storms will often cause damage to properties’ roofs and this will then need fixing fast.

When the roof fails, there is often an urgent need for repair – there could be a leak and water ingress that has the potential to cause further damage inside and lead to  redecoration – even if this is covered by home insurance it is still major upheaval and annoyance.

There is also another certainly, if your roof needs repair because of storm damage then others will too. You may find a recommendation for a superb local company that can carry out the repair only to find that they are in high demand.

An available company might not always be the best company – if a supposed roof repair expert can come round the same day when there are lots of roofs that need repairing what does this say for their reputation or quality?

All this is to say that if you need an urgent repair you need to have someone in mind already, a company you have used before and trust – this is true of any sort of home repair, not just roof issues.

However, there is a better way.

Bar the most extreme of storms, the type we maybe see once in a decade at most, most storms only exaggerate existing damage. They work away at what was already a weak spot.

Most of the damage to roofs that occurs during storms and the winter months could have been avoided if only the roof had been maintained and given regular, annual checks.

A roof check and routine maintenance would spot that some tiles were loose or that the ridge was in need of repair.

The maintenance would also address issues that would lead to future problems, tiles become loose for a reason and a build-up of moss algae and lichen is a common factor. A specialist clean and coating can prevent this build up and so ensure that there are not future problems.

After every storm, thousands of homeowners find that their gutters are not fit for purpose, perhaps with rain water cascading against walls and causing damp damage. Such a problem could have been easily prevented by simply having a regular check, cleaning out the gutters and drains and ensuring all fastenings remained good.

Pay now or PAY Later

We understand the mindset, it is something we are all guilty of.

It is often tempting to not pay now for something you are not certain you will have to pay for in future.

Why pay for roof maintenance when it could be ‘wasted expense’? If, for instance, you could have got through the next 10 years not needing to pay for roof repairs then to pay for annual maintenance would have been a waste surely.

The problem is that there is a certain inevitability to roof repairs, a roof that is not maintained will not remain issue free for ever. What is less certain is when there will be this need for repair – will it be in one year, three years? Five years – or maybe two months.

It is also impossible to predict how many repairs may be needed. There could be none for two years, or it may be that some tiles have to be fixed after a storm, but then three months later there is a gutter problem and then, two months after that more tile issues.

At this stage the homeowner would perhaps consider paying for more general maintenance, when had they done this earlier they would not also have had to spend for these individual repairs.

With regular roof maintenance there is of course a cost but this is likely to be the only expense for the roof.

With a more relaxed approach to house maintenance there will either be no expense, or an expense that far exceeds what would have been spent on regular checks.

In most cases, it will be the latter.

About Improve A Roof

At Improve a Roof, we offer roof coating that will extend the life of your roof and also reduce heating bills, and also an annual wash and refurbish option – this would clean your roof but also address any maintenance issues such as loose or missing tiles, the capping of gutters, re-mortaring of the ridge and many more common issues.

Our testimonials are universally positive, please take the time to read the impartial reviews.