You see the neighbor down the street is getting a new roof, so naturally you think, “How often is roof replacement needed?” Then, of course, you wonder about your own Norwood-area home’s roof. How can you know you need to replace your roof?
Five Factors
Roofs do not wear and age alike. Five factors largely affect the aging of any roof:
- Quality and type of roofing materials
- Quality of installation
- Chronological age
- Weather and wind patterns
- Attention versus neglect
The last item, attention versus neglect, may be beyond your control. Previous homeowners should have had the roof inspected annually and repaired by trained professionals equipped with safety gear. If your roof has been neglected, its life has been sharply limited.
Roofing Materials
Shingles are inexpensive to install but have the shortest average life span. Metal can be a costly investment, but may last 50-plus years. Tile, carrying a hefty price tag, seems fragile but can last a century or more.
Fiberglass-asphalt composite shingles are America’s #1 choice in residential roofing material. If you have a shingle roof, you can expect to replace your roof every 20 years, on average. If you purchased your existing home and have no idea how old its roof is, your local roofer can help.
Call The Pros
To know all about your home’s roof, contact your local, helpful roofer. A skilled roofer can determine two things about your roof:
- Its approximate chronological age — Based on the roofing materials, nailing pattern, even the techniques used in installation, a good roofer can calculate your roof’s installation date
- Its wear age — Separate from the roof’s calendar age is how it has worn over the years
The roofer can also determine the quality of installation. Good roofers perform excellent installations of even the least expensive materials. Bad roofers can shorten a roof’s life span even using expensive materials.
Wear Age
Combine weather, location, even wind direction and you can roughly estimate a roof’s wear age, its condition unrelated to chronological age. Roofs in the northeast wear faster than, say, an Atlanta roof. Your roofer can help you see signs of aging due to wind and weather. One sign you can spot: shingle granules in the gutters. Please contact us at O’Lyn Roofing today to have your Norwood-area home’s roof evaluated soon. We can show you the approximate wear age of your roof and explain the full roof replacement process.
