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Maintaining Your Roof During Winter
Preventing damage to your roof during harsh winter weather is crucial since it keeps you and your home warm and dry. Of course, it can be an intimidatingtask to keep your roof protected from the assault of constant wintery weather - especially when hail, wind, snow and rain are involved. However; it's notentirely impossible to keep your roof in good shape - some precautions must be taken.
Chances are, a leaky roof is the problem that will give you the most headaches. Unfortunately, leaks in your roof can easily happen for a lot of reasonsand it's not always immediately obvious what caused them - the reasons can include a poor shingling job, blocked gutters or roof drains, excess snow, ordamage from a hailstorm.
Another very common and extremely aggravating roof problem that occurs in the winter are ice dams. An ice dam forms when snow on a roof melts and freezesrepeatedly. This can cause water to back-up behind the ice dam and seep under your shingles, causing a leak
This problem can be solved with a simple tool: a snow roof rake! This handy tool can be extended and used to remove snow from your roof, preventing theeventual build-up of ice and ice dams. The AJC Snow-Go Roof Rake features an18 foot 4 stage handle, snap buttons for quick connect / disconnect and only weighs 6.5 pounds! This roofing tool will surely make your life a lot easier.
It is also possible to prevent ice dams by installing ice dam membranes under the shingles that prevent the water from getting under the shingles to beginwith. You may also want to consider installing heat tapes - which are essentially long wires that run across the roof and help melt the snow properly so itruns off your roof instead of freezing.
Keeping your attic or the space underneath the roof properly ventilated is very important as well. This will help reduce your energy bills during thesummer. But during the winter, it's especially important to do this because the low temperatures can cause moisture to accumulate on the underside of yourroof - which may lead to dry rot.
So what are you waiting for? Start winterizing your roof today and make sure you are prepared for whatever this winter will bring you!
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