The common roofing problems that turn into expensive ones
Most roof failures start small and stay quiet. A lifted shingle. A blocked downspout. An attic that runs hot all summer. Left alone, each one ends up as water inside the house, and the repair bill grows with the delay. These are the common roofing problems homeowners run into, what causes them, and what to do about each.
Inadequate insulation
Heat escaping through the roof in winter and pouring in during summer raises energy bills. In cold regions it also drives ice dams. Warm attic air melts snow near the ridge, the meltwater refreezes at the cold eave, and the ice backs water up under the roof covering until it finds a way in.
Adding attic insulation is the usual fix. Confirm the structure can carry the added weight, and check that you are not burying the soffit vents in the process, which trades one problem for another. A radiant barrier reduces heat gain in hot climates. When comparing materials, look at R value, which measures resistance to heat flow, and at whether the product is rated for your assembly.
Incorrect application
Wrong material for the slope, wrong fastener, wrong quantity, wrong pattern. Installation errors produce leaks, premature aging and sometimes structural damage, and they usually void the manufacturer’s material warranty.
Fasteners are a frequent culprit. Metal panel systems call for screws with sealing washers, driven to a specified depth, in a specified location. Substituting nails, or overdriving screws until the washer deforms, leads to backed out fasteners and a leak at each one. Use the type, size, quantity and placement the manufacturer publishes. Too few fasteners lets the covering lift in wind. Too many perforates it.
Damaged shingles
Wind, hail and falling limbs do most of it. Age does the rest. Watch for three patterns:
- Cracked or split shingles. Common on older roofs and after repeated thermal cycling. Water moves through the split into the underlayment.
- Missing shingles. Wind uplift, hail, and occasionally animals. Exposed decking absorbs water quickly.
- Buckling or curling. A sign the shingle is no longer bonded, or that the deck underneath is moving. Trapped attic moisture is a common cause.
A handful of shingles can be replaced. Widespread curling across a whole slope is a roof near the end of its service life, and patching it repeatedly costs more than planning the replacement.
Standing water
Water that is still sitting on a roof two days after the rain stops is working against the covering full time. Roofing practice treats that condition as ponding, and it is worth acting on.
Low slope and flat roofs are where this shows up. Start with drainage. Clear the gutters and downspouts, confirm the gutters are pitched toward the outlet, and check for crushed or kinked sections. If drainage is clean and water still pools, the problem sits in the slope or the deck, and it needs a roofing contractor to diagnose. Ponding accelerates seam failure and adds structural load the framing was not designed to carry.
Ventilation issues
A vented attic needs intake low and exhaust high. Soffit vents bring air in, ridge vents let it out, and the movement carries heat and moisture with it. Without that path, moisture condenses on the underside of the deck, which produces mold, rot, and shingles that age from below while looking fine from the street.
Adding exhaust without adding intake makes the situation worse. A ridge vent over blocked soffits pulls conditioned air out of the living space instead of drawing air through the attic. Balance the two, and count the net free vent area rather than the number of vents.
Catch these roofing problems while they are still cheap
Nearly everything listed above is visible to a trained inspector years before it is visible from the ground. NRCIA members perform the LeakFREE® Check, a five zone inspection covering interior, attic, exterior, perimeter and rooftop, and issue a LeakFREE® Roof Inspection Report that documents what they found and what correcting it will take.
The outlook is usually better than homeowners expect. Across 6,460 member inspections nationwide, more than 66 percent of roofs either qualified for a LeakFREE® Roof Certification or could be repaired to qualify.
Find an accredited NRCIA inspector near you in the NRCIA member directory.
LeakFREE®, Forensic ROOF®, Mr. RoofCheck®, InspectionPLUS®, Today’s Inspection… Tomorrow’s Protection®, and Got Leaks?® are registered trademarks of Field Gate FLP, used by permission. RoofGUARD™, ForensicGUARD™, DisasterGUARD™, E3GUARD™, and Think Like a Raindrop™ are trademarks of Field Gate FLP.
