When replacing a roof, most people believe the only thing that matters is the shingles installed on top. However, a lifetime roof is much more than just shingles. There are many components of your roof that work together to keep the rain out. If just one of the parts in the system fails, water can start draining into your home instead of off the roof where it belongs.
Because your home’s roof is so important, having just one layer of protection is not a good way to guarantee you won’t have water in your home in the future. Each part needs a system of redundancy that will act as backup protection just in case the top layer fails.
Here are a few examples…
We Install An Underlayment to Protect Your Roof’s Decking
When reroofing a home, first, an underlayment is installed on your roof’s wood decking. Then, the shingles are installed over the top. If the underlayment is damaged and won’t keep water out on its own, then the shingles are the only thing protecting your home.
If one shingle were to blow off you would have water running into your attic the next time it rains. Since old-fashioned organic felt paper is vulnerable to wrinkling and tearing, we use synthetic felt paper to ensure the shingles have adequate backup protection should something happen.
We Install Ice and Water Shields For More Protection
Another extremely vulnerable area on a roof is the flashings around walls, chimneys, & skylights. Since water can flow right along flashings, if one gets damaged, all that water will flow right into the home. As a backup, a high-quality ice and water shield should be installed behind each piece of flashing. So if one fails, the water still can’t get in.
We Ventilate Your Roof System
Ventilation is a key part of a lifetime roof system as well. If a roof is under-ventilated or not ventilated at all (as I’ve seen before) it will eventually destroy the plywood used in the roof deck. Shingles will also age quickly due to the intense heat trapped in an unventilated attic. Plus, you’ll pay more to cool your home if the attic stores all that heat in the summertime.
Because of all these variables, it’s very important to ensure every part of the roof system is installed correctly. If anything is missing or done wrong, you’re almost guaranteed to have problems later on down the road. The only thing worse than having to replace your roof once is being forced to replace it again if something was missed or failed prematurely.
Contact Us Today For a Quote
Get in touch with the roofing experts at New Heights today for a quote on a new roof. We will be happy to come out as soon as possible.
