Hello World! Welcome Friends! The roof is what brings together your building envelope and covers your home. It works to protect you from external aspects like weather and debris. Due to these functions, your roof must always be in pristine condition. However, some situations threaten your roof’s ability to offer protection. One such situation is the occurrence of natural disasters.
Natural disasters are the negative results of natural events like floods, storms, hurricanes, and earthquakes. Besides destroying property, these events can lead to the loss of lives. This article discusses property destruction by natural disasters, specifically roofs.
As a homeowner, you don’t want to wake up with no roof above your head. It’s important to prepare before a storm adequately. However, suppose your roof is blown away or damaged in the process. What should you do?
Read on to learn the tips you can implement to prepare and repair your roof before and after a natural disaster.
1. Perform An Inspection
Roof damage isn’t something you can conveniently check every day due to the roof’s position. Imagine climbing your ladder daily to inspect your roof. The thought of doing it is in itself tiring. With minimal inspections, roof damage is likely present, which can become extensive during and after a hurricane or a storm.
You want to protect yourself from such an occurrence. Consider hiring a professional roofing contractor in your areas, such as Zups Construction and Roofing, to inspect your roof before the storm or hurricane period. The period is based on the projections by your area’s meteorology department. On the other hand, if you are located in Boise Idaho – you should be prepared for heavy snowfall in the winter. Look for a trusted roofing company in Boise Idaho that has experience in dealing with the region’s unique weather patterns. Not only will this reduce the risks of extensive damage, but also give you peace of mind.
The professional roofing contractor will identify and rectify any issues with your roof. Suppose your roof requires replacement, but you don’t have enough time to replace the roof before the storm. The contractor will put in the proper measures to protect your roof for the time being.
However, you can easily counteract the lack of time by hiring the contractor a month or two before the event’s occurrence. Doing this will give you total protection.
Your chosen roofing contractor will also reinforce your roof to ensure it doesn’t collapse amidst all the strong forces of the hurricane or storm.
2. Clean Your Roof
Cleaning your roof beforehand is one sure way of protecting your property in a hurricane or tornado. It’s best to do the cleaning a week before the predicted dates. This is an activity you can undertake independently. How will you do this?
Put up a ladder, ensuring it’s well anchored to the ground. Note that you’ll be spending considerable time on it and you don’t want accidents. When cleaning, remove debris from your roof, such as stones and leaves. Your roofing material should be bare after the entire process. The removal of debris will prevent water from pooling on your roof. Instead, rainwater will flow down the roof, into the gutter, and into the ground or your water harvesting solution.
If a tree has branches or leaves hanging over your roof’s surface, it’s best to cut them. They might contribute to your roof’s damage in a storm or hurricane. The branches might swing against the strong winds and hit your roof, eventually damaging it.
Next, clean your gutter to ensure it’s free from debris and clogs on its surfaces. Keep in mind that a clean gutter efficiently removes water from your roof, thus protecting it when the storm arrives.
3. Assess the Damage
In most cases, there’s no one universal solution to roof repair. Repair is restricted to the specific roof. Therefore, you must assess the damage to your roof.
Typically, visible damage is easy to identify, like missing roof parts or water leaks through your ceiling. However, when doing the assessment, there may be damage that you might overlook. Therefore, it’s best to engage the services of an expert roofing contractor.
The roofing contractor will inspect the roof for damage with a trained eye, and won’t likely miss any aspect, no matter how minor. After your roofing contractor has assessed the damage, they’ll advise on the best course of action. If the damage is extensive, expect to replace your entire roof. However, if the damage is minimal, it’ll only require a few repairs. It’s best to follow the roofing contractor’s recommendations to avoid future roof damage from another storm.
This step is crucial, especially if you have home insurance coverage. Since the insurance company will compensate you based on the extent of damage, you’ll disclose. Certainly, you want to ensure that the insurance coverage will compensate for all the damage. However, if you fail to adhere to the requirements needed by the insurance company, you’ll be solely responsible for the damage costs, which can be expensive. So, it would be best to prepare your claim requirements accordingly.
Conclusion
Natural disasters are uncontrollable events, whether in their occurrence or intensity. However, you have control over your roof’s condition in the occurrence of these events. The discussion above has outlined strategies you can use to gain the necessary control. But even with all the damage control efforts, there’s always a possibility of things not going according to plan. Fortunately, with this insight, you can effectively take care of your investment, ensuring its long-term viability.
Click the links below for any posts you have missed:
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Toodles,
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