Many people wait till there roof needs maintenance before they do anything to their roof. What some people may not know is that when fall comes it is time to get the roof ready for winter. In doing this you are protecting the roof from needing maintenance as often. In doing this saves you from ending up with a big bill when something does go wrong from not getting the roof ready for winter.
One thing to keep in mind while you are doing this project is to always keep a good footing and be very cautious of your surroundings. The first thing you will want to do is clear all the debris off of the roof. You can very easily do this with a leaf blower. When you are doing this step don not forget to do the gutters. Make sure that there is not anyone down below because you don't want to be throwing the debris off your roof onto your neighbors or your family.
The next thing you want to do after you got the roof clean, is do a visual inspection. You want to check for any cracks or damage. It is good to do this so you have some kind of an idea on how much work actually needs to be done. Also with doing a visual inspection it helps you catch any problems before they start to get bad and you need to hire a contractor.
The next step in getting your roof ready for the winter is check the flashings of the roof jacks. This can cause it to leak into your home when it rains or after a heavy snow. Unfortunately you will first think that you have a plumbing problem when in fact the problem is up on the roof. This is avery important step because with water leaking into your home can cause many other costly problems. Also in this step you will want to check your gutters and downspouts, and any other metal crickets, roof to wall flashings, step flashings, or split pitch roof problem areas. And then check roof window areas, or direct rain exposure or anywhere where there is a possibility that some water can get in.
After you have done all of your inspecting now is the time when you begin patching the cracks in the roof. You want to use mastic to fill the cracks. Keep in mind when you are doing this that if you require more than 6 tubes of mastic then you are going to want to consider calling a contractor to get the roof replaced. You should start applying the mastic at the ridge. When you are patching up the crack you want to make sure that you fill the entire crack to make sure that you don't get any leaking.
And lastly you want to examine valleys, ridges, and gutters. When doing this examination make sure that you throughly check the valleys. The reason for this is because they get twice the amount of water. When applying the mastic to the roofing tabs make sure that you don't clog them. Make sure that the gutters are leaf free because if left full of leaves it can cause dry rot and that can run into a lot of money.
