When Is It Time to Replace Your Roof?

if you're in need of a roof replacement then it's important to know right away so that you can start budgeting and you can start searching for a reputable roofing contractor today we're going to be going over three very common reasons why people need a roof replacement and the signs you can look out for for each of those reasons i'm brandon hafele with bill reagan roofing company and thank you for watching the roofing channel let's get started [Music] old age now this one is simple enough if your roof is at the natural end of its lifespan

then it's time to replace it if you're aware of how old your roof is then here are some common lifespans for some common materials a three tab asphalt roof will last anywhere from 18 to 23 years an architectural shingle roof is going to last anywhere from 25 to 30 years a luxury asphalt roof will last anywhere from 30 to 50 years a standing seam metal roof will also last anywhere from 30 to 50 years it can be a little bit tricky to know when exactly you're supposed to replace your roof as i just gave a

five year span of time as a minimum for a three tab and a 20 year maximum so how do you know exactly when you're supposed to replace it well there are signs that you can look for even if you don't know the age of your roof to determine whether or not your roof is ready to replace one of the biggest signs you can look for with old age is also for one of the most common roofing materials asphalt shingles what you're looking for is granule loss you may not be able to tell at a glance

but over time asphalt shingles will lose the granules that are attached to them and that's how you know that the roof is losing its integrity if you can't tell just by looking on your roof and you don't feel safe to get on your roof you can look at your gutters specifically your splash guards and you'll notice a lot of granules if your roof is starting to lose its integrity now other than granule loss what you can look for are your shingles beginning to crack you can look for excessive color fading to where it takes on

a whitish grayish look and you can also look for excessive vegetation beginning to grow on your roof the good thing about this form of replacement is that old natural age is the best reason to replace a roof it means that your roof system lived up to its fullest potential and you got the most bang out of your buck storm damage if your area has experienced a severe weather event such as a hail storm tornado or hurricane then your roof might be damaged to the point where it needs to be replaced for hail damage you can

look for bruises on your roof that's roofing slaying for these dark spots that are left on asphalt shingles where hale has impacted and took some of the granules with it besides asphalt shingle bruising you can look for dented soft metals like your gutters ventilation and flashing you can even look for soft metals that are on the ground like your car or a grill signs caused by wind damage are typically a lot easier to spot than hail damage if a shingle is torn it often leaves a dark spot behind from where it was removed which is

really easy to see from the sidewalk other than that you can look for the actual debris in your yard and if a shingle has been damaged by the wind but hasn't quite torn off a strong gust will make it start to flap in the wind a roof needing to be replaced because it was damaged by storms is also not the worst reason to have to replace your roof the reason behind this is because most homeowners insurance policies do cover a roof replacement in the case of storm damage it's our personal recommendation to make a claim

as soon as possible once you notice your roof is damaged by a storm the reason being is because a lot of bigger insurance companies are going to be filled to capacity maybe even over capacity with insurance claims they're going to need to get through and a common tactic that many insurance companies will use to get through a lot of those claims is to simply say no to many homeowners at one given time and there's going to be a large chunk of homeowners that are going to not fight back against that claim you don't want to

have to deal with the headache of an insurance claim get it out of the way quickly before that insurance company gets overwhelmed improper installation finally another big reason that roofs need to be replaced and this one you really don't want to see is improper installation now minor installation errors happen all the time even with the most reputable and seasoned of companies but those reputable and seasoned companies will be out to fix their mistake for free if they're worth their salt a major installation error though such as a miscalibrated air gun that results in large swaths

of roof not being nailed improperly is going to warrant either a replacement or a repair so large and expensive it may as well be a replacement now again a reputable roofing contractor is going to take that financial hit and do that huge repair or that roof replacement if it's their fault however an out of state fleet of vehicles that comes into the storm damage neighborhoods replaces a lot of roofs and then dips out chances are a homeowner that calls one of those companies to fix an installation error is not going to hear back or it's

going to take a lot and a lot of pressure to mobilize a crew to get down there from wherever they came from to replace your roof it's unfortunate however it happens all the time in terms of signs of installation errors a leak here and there is usually a minor one that can be fixed by a repair however a major installation error is usually going to result in some sliding shingles like wind damage this is very noticeable from the ground if you have suffered from an improperly installed roof and you have a good roofing contractor then

you're in the clear however if this isn't the case then we encourage you to click on the link below or at the end to watch our video over what recourse you have if your roof is installed improperly i'm brandon hafele with bill reagan roofing company and thank you for watching the roofing channel hopefully now you'll know the signs to look out for remember to like and subscribe to help us grow and spread more helpful information to homeowners like yourself and we'll see you next time you