When you contact a roof repair contractor you are likely to be faced with questions such as what kind of roof covering do you have and how much are you willing to solidify the longevity of its life. In order to understand the job of these roofers and why they can make your building a lot safer and comfortable to live in, you need to know what roof coating essentially is.

Roof Coating

Roof coating is a process carried out to improve the life of roof assemblies particularly in times of new construction. These coatings are much thicker than an average paint coat that you may have applied.

The concept behind the process is to protect the roof of building from the weather and the corrosion that it may bring in the form of consistent rain or otherwise. The manufacture of the coating is such that it is able to maintain its elasticity, and hence its applicable life, for much longer than a paint coat can regardless of how thick it is.

Why Use Roof Coating?

There are a number of roof coatings available in the market that you can choose from depending on your budget, needs etc. However, their underlying benefits can be summated in the following reasons:

  1. Extending Roof Lives

Roof repair contractors make it a point to ensure today that their constructed effort does not go down the drain the next time a heavy rain season hits or a disaster such as any natural calamity may strike. However, there exist a number of buildings in which roofer do not have the option of simply reconstructing it.

With roof coating, the chances of roofs collapsing and resulting in collateral and financial loss for the building owner and stake holders of the building become very slime. That is because the coating does not allow the standing water to corrode the roof structure. Some coatings come with an extra option of shedding water to keep the interiors dry, and at present technologies to make the process as water proof as possible are in action.

  1. Save Energy

It is reasonable to assume that a building today will have a number of operational air conditioning units. In these times of climate change when the world is faced with longer and harsher summers, timed with the need to look for renewable methods of producing energy, roofing tips have concluded that this may be the most efficient way of going about forming natural cooling units.

Modified bitumen roofs can reduce heat by around 96 F according to researches. In a nutshell, this investment means that the building owner(s) can cut down on carbon footprints and energy bills by operating the air conditioning units more efficiently. Even on extremely sunny days, energy can be saved by not having to run the ACs on their fullest, most consumptive, potentials.

  1. Reduce Tear-Offs

Roof coatings cannot completely end the need of repairing roofs in times when a section has torn/worn off. It needs to be understood, however, that landfill sites are filling up faster than ever before and wear and tear from roofs is one of the biggest contributors to these landfill sites overflowing with waste material.

You can save yourself the cost of getting roof repairs by timely ensuring that you have a good quality roof coating in place. In addition, your responsibility as a citizen of the modern world to cut down on waste will be fulfilled with you contributing less and less to tear-offs by the roofs of buildings.

  1. Adhere to a Number of Materials

Not all roofs are constructed with concrete right off the bat; metal roofs, asphalt roofs, wooden roofs etc. all exist and add to the composite beauty in urban centers. Shifting a building’s roof is not only very costly, it can also go against any standards of appeal that the owner had in mind.

Roof coatings today, however, exist to suit a wide variety of surface types. Regardless of what your roof is made of, your roofers CT will find the best suited material to coat it and make it as sustainable and long lasting as possible. In all cases, it is a great investment that makes the expense for building roof repairs in the foreseeable future much less anticipated.

Are there water stains on your ceiling? You have a leaky roof and you should fix it as soon as possible. If you have roofing skills you can go ahead and try to fix the roof but if you have never done it before, hire roof repair contractors to help you out.

Find the leaks

For you to fix the leaks you need to find them, right? The best place to start looking for them is uphill from the stains. Pay attention to the roof penetrations. These include roof vents, dormers, chimneys, and anything else that projects through the roof.

It’s common to come across some leaks that are hard to find. In such a case, use a helper. The helper should go inside the house to notify you when he/she notices a leak. You should start by soaking the area above the area where the leak appears. Let the hose run for a few minutes before moving it up the roof. You should do this until you find the leak.

If you do this and still don’t find the leak, remove shingles and by doing so you will track the leak right down to the source.

Fix the problematic part

How you repair the roof depends on the source of the leak. The areas to pay attention to include:

Damaged plumbing vent boots: What are your vent boots made from? Plastic? Metal? Or two-piece metal units? How you fix them depends on the material used in making them. Inspect the pieces for cracks and broken seams. Are they damaged? Replace them.

Fix roof vents: Are there cracked housings on plastic roof vents? Are there broken seams on metal ones? When you have this problem you might be tempted to try and fix it using caulk but this won’t fix the problem. The best way of doing it is by replacing the damaged vents.

Pay attention to the walls and dormers: Sometimes water gets in from above the roof, especially around the windows, through cracks, between corner boards and siding, and many other places. The roof might be leaking due to old caulk, missing or cracked corner boards and issues between window edges and siding. Fixing this issue is easy. If the problem is due to old caulk, consider replacing it. If there are cracks in the corner boards, replace them.

Fix the step flashing: You use the step flashing along the walls that intersect the roof. Each short section of the flashing channels water over the shingle downhill. When the flashing rusts or a piece gets loose, water will run behind it and get into the house.

If the flashing has rusted, you should replace it. This calls for you to remove shingles and prying the siding loose. You should then remove and replace the step flashing.

Roof repair tips

For you to properly repair the roof you need to consider a number of tips. Some of the tips to consider are:

Don’t rely on caulk: While you might find caulk being used by a lot of people, it might not be the ideal product for your roof repair. Remember, it’s rare that caulk will cure your roof leaking problem. The best way out is to try a mechanical way of fixing the problem. Instead of using the sealant, repair or replace the flashing. The only time you should use caulk is when fixing extremely small holes.

Always fix even the smallest holes: When finding the source of the leak, it’s common to come across small holes. Some people ignore them as they deem them harmless. Don’t do this. Tiny holes can be sneaky as they can cause rot and other forms of damage for years before you see signs of a leak.

If there are exposed, misplaced roofing nails, remove and put them in place. It’s easy to fix small holes but if you have never done it before, hire an expert to help you out.

Pay attention to leaks around the chimney: A lot of issues can develop around your brick chimney. One of the most common is rusting of the flashing around the chimney. When having this problem, the best way to fix it is to get a new flashing. If there are other issues with the chimney, get experts from roof repair companies to help you out.