Now that Spring is upon us, many of us feel the urge to undertake the annual big clean of the house. You would be forgiven for only focussing on the dusty cabinets inside your home. However, it’s important not to neglect the most important part of any property, the part that protects your home from the weather. Your roof.
Spring is one of the best times to do some basic chores for your roof, as winter can leave your gutters blocked and your shingles cracked. So here are the Keay Roofing Spring cleaning tips, to ensure it remains in good condition for the year ahead.
Ensure Your Own Safety
Before undertaking any roof cleaning or repairs it’s vitally important to ensure your safety. Being up on your roof is not the same as walking through your home. There are many hidden dangers, that can cause serious harm to you if you do not follow proper health and safety guidance.
If you’re undertaking repairs we recommend that you equip yourself properly to tackle the task ahead. We recommend that fixed scaffolding is correctly erected to provide a solid platform from which to work. If your work involves using a secured ladder on a pitched roof, we recommend that you wear some form of additional personal fall protection, anchored to a suitable point to protect you in case of a fall or other accident.
Wearing the proper clothing is also important. Sturdy footwear with soles that grip is essential, as are hard hats, high vis clothing and protective equipment such as safety gloves, goggles and face masks.
Using a tool belt is also a good way to keep tools secure from falling from the roof and harming those below, whilst keeping equipment you’ll need easily to hand.
Before you go up to your roof, it would be wise to balance the risk with the reward. If you believe it would be safer for a qualified professional to do the job for you, Keay Roofing Services are here to help. We are a professional team of roofers, who value customer satisfaction above all else. If you would like to know more about our roof repairs and maintenance, please call our helpline on 0800 1577 424.
Clearing Your Guttering
Your gutters are installed to transport water away from your home and into the drainage system, but what happens when they are blocked?
During winter, your guttering is likely to catch dead leaves, debris and roof moss which can cause a blockage. This means that, during a rainstorm, your gutters will not work efficiently. This in turn could lead to the blockage causing a dam effect, pooling water in your gutters. This water will start to put a major strain on your guttering, with a total guttering collapse as a worst-case scenario.
Another problem that may come from blocked guttering is water overflowing from your gutters and pooling around the foundations of your home. This can lead to the water seeping into cracks, and freezing during a cold snap. When this happens, the cracks in your foundations can grow, until they are a serious cause for concern.
Look for Broken Tiles Or Shingles
Tiles and shingles protect your roof from weather damage, and help guide rain water towards your guttering. During particularly bad weather spells, they may become broken or dislodged. Leading to a drastic decline in the efficiency of your roof at keeping out rain.
When your roof is missing tiles or shingles, or if they have cracked, it allows rain to penetrate the weatherproof barrier into your loft. Rain water is also able to soak your rafters, which in turn can cause them to rot. This means serious structural problems.
If you spot any broken or missing tiles or shingles, it is important that you call an expert right away. Keay Roofing Services can source the problem, and carry our effective repairs or replacement to ensure your roof remains an effective barrier against the Great British weather.
Remove Moss From Your Roof
Moss is not directly linked to roof problems, but can be unsightly as well as mask real problems like broken or missing shingles. Spring is as good a time as any to remove moss from your roof, and it is important to remove it correctly.
You should never use a pressure washer when removing roof moss. If you do, you could damage the shingles underneath by wearing away the top layer. This makes them easier to crack in bad weather, reducing the efficiency of your roof.
There are a few different ways you can remove roof moss including using chemical moss killers or removing it by hand. But each should be handled with care in order not to damage the tiles below.
If you want the job done properly, you should always call a specialist. We have a team on hand that can get the job done quickly and efficiently, leaving your roof looking as good as the first day it was installed. For more information about moss removal, please visit our moss removal page.
Check Your Chimney
Inspecting the structural soundness of a chimney can be difficult to do as it often involves having to go up on your roof to check for damage.
Cracks, gaps, wear and tear will have the same effect on your home as a missing shingle, and will reduce the efficiency of your roof and allow water into your home. In the worst case, severe wearing of the structural elements could lead to a chimney collapse.
Your chimney is made of a number of components and all need checking to ensure it’s weatherproof and that the structural integrity is not being compromised. This includes the chimney pot, the flaunching (the part that covers the chimney stack which supports the pots), the chimney stack itself and the flashings and back gutter (which provide a watertight seal around the base of the stack and the roof itself).
Checking your chimney can be a hard task, and fixing it should only be handled by professionals. If you would like to know more about the types of problems your chimney can suffer from, and how Keay Roofing can help, please take a look at our chimney repair service.
Your roof can take a beating over the Winter, so why not take some time over Spring to show it some TLC? These are a few ways to do that yourself. If you believe a professional job would have a better effect, then please don’t hesitate to call Keay Roofing Services. We are a professional roofing company that always put our customers first. For more information, please call our Freephone on 0800 1577 424 or send us an email.
