How to Know If Your Roof Needs New Shingles
Did you know that your roofers Myrtle Beach can typically have a surface temperature that can be as high as 75 degrees above the ambient temperature. Picture this, it’s Myrtle Beach around the end of July. You’re sitting on the beach enjoying the nice cool breeze off the ocean. It’s around 2:00 in the afternoon. The ocean water temperature is around 87 degrees this time of year and the meteorologist on the radio just said it’s 99 degrees outside with a heat index of 104 degrees. To you this sounds like a perfect day on the beach. This is an absolute nightmare for your roof. So on this day your roof’s surface temperature is around 170-180 degrees. That is scorching hot. You can’t put your bare hands on that surface. However your roof spends the majority of its life in these types of temperatures.
Now let’s bring in the afternoon shower brought on by the cold front moving into the area. If you’re sitting on the beach this is how this unfolds. You see behind you the clouds start to darken and build up on the edge of the wall between the cold front and the warm front boundaries. Wind starts to build up. If you’re a local you know what time it is. You start gathering your belongings and make your way to your car and start to head home. Before you make it home the rain starts. You can see the sheets of it coming down in front of you as you make your way west towards your home. The temperature outside drops to a nice cool 60 degrees. These rain showers typically last maybe an hour or so as the front clears out. It’s a nice cooling off period. While this is common and almost looked forward to during the hottest part of the year. Again this is a nightmare for your roof. It just went from being 180 degrees to getting a super cool 3 inch rain shower that drops the surface temperature as much as 80 degrees. This kind of hot to cold is called thermal shock. Drastic thermal shocks such as these can make the roof deck for one and the entire house for another expand and contract dramatically. This places an incredible strain on your shingles. As roofers Myrtle Beach we know that this happens day after day, week after week, year after year.
Let’s also not forget the other contributing factors to your roofs aging process. There are many factors such as moisture, pollution, and physical effects (roof traffic, hail, snow, ice, wind, tree limbs, hurricane, tornados) all of these wreak havoc on your roof system.
It doesn’t seem like it’s ever a good day to be a roof and that is because it’s not. Sun, rain, heat and cold your roof just doesn’t ever get a break.
So once again let’s paint a picture. Some of you have put on a new roof on your property or one that you may have owned in the past and can probably agree with how this plays out. When your brand new roof was first installed on your lovely home. Everyone will be talking about how much it enhances the appearance of your home. Shortly after the initial curing phase of the roof happens you can expect to see some granular loose, and maybe some curling of the shingles. This is a fast stage that slows up dramatically. As you enter the next phase of the roof life you can expect all of this to rapidly slow down. It is during this mid life period that the aging effects on your roof slow down as the roof has sealed. As roofers Myrtle Beach we know that there are many factors that will determine when your roof will enter into the declining years of their life cycle. Factors such as the ventilation of the roof, the thickness of the shingles, sun exposure or debris from trees. All of these dramatically affect the roof and its life span. Once your roof enters the final declining years of its life it will happen rapidly.
Here are some of the signs to look out for on your roof:
Curling on the edges of the shingles is probably one of the most common signs. While some curling is normal excessing curling is not. This happens as the asphalt in the shingles starts to harden over time.
Surface Cracking. This is a common sign of aging. This is typically caused by the thermal shock we spoke of earlier. This is caused as the asphalt oils are depleted by the heat causing the surface to crack just like an asphalt roof.
Blisters. The blisters typically show as a bubble in the shingles they can be tiny or as large as a quarter. These are usually a by-product of not enough ventilation to the roof.
Staining. This is the most common sign of aging. Especially if your area has been prone to unusual amounts of rain or hurricane type rain where it stays wet for days on end. This is caused by algae growth. A roof can have the staining cleaned with a cleaning solution and a rinse with a very low pressure wash. Please never ever let anyone, not even roofers Myrtle Beach, use a pressure washer on your roof. It just destroys your shingles. I’ve seen it more than once. It is probably the worst thing you could ever do to your roof.
If you feel your roof is old or you just want to know what the shape of your roof is, please give Accurate Building Company a call for a free estimate today. We as roofers Myrtle Beach can answer your questions and make sure your home is properly protected against the harsh weather environment that the climate in Myrtle Beach has to offer.