Some roof problems can’t wait and some can. A sag in the roofline you hadn’t noticed before, bits of shingle on the lawn after a storm, a ceiling stain that grows with every rain: those need a roofer soon. Curling shingles and grit in the gutters usually mean the roof is wearing, which gives you time to plan the roof repair, or to work out whether it’s time for more than a repair. Dark streaks are mostly a matter of looks.
Signs that need a roofer soon
Water inside the house is the plainest one. Left open, a leak wets the roof boards and the insulation above the ceiling again with each rain. The wet spot can also be well away from the hole in the roof. Water can follow the framing for a while first, so finding the leak means tracing it back up to its source.
Not every stain in the attic is a leak, though. In a cold attic that isn’t vented well enough, stains can come from condensation, and the fix for that is in the attic, not on the shingles.
Shingles on the ground, or a patch on the roof that’s suddenly a different color, usually mean the wind has torn some off. Until they’re replaced, only the underlayment stands between the rain and the deck.
A roofline that dips between the rafters, which you’ll see best from across the street, can point to a structural problem under the shingles. That may be more than a repair, and our post on deciding between a repair and a replacement explains why.
When there’s time to plan
Grit like coarse sand in the gutters, or washed out of a downspout, is granules coming off the shingles. A few are normal on a young roof, but a heavy drift of them after a single storm can point to hail damage. On an older roof, granules that keep turning up are the shingles wearing thin.
Shingles curl at the edges and crack with age and weather. When it’s happening all over the roof, the question becomes how much life is left, and our post on how long a shingle roof lasts in Pennsylvania helps you judge.
Black streaks down a slope are often algae carried onto the roof by the air, and the algae won’t damage the roof. Moss growing on the shingles can make their edges curl up, and wind gets under a curled edge more easily.
Where the damage comes from
The signs above have a short list of causes. Each one links to more on it.
- Wind, which usually starts at the edges of a roof and can break a shingle’s seal without tearing it off. Around Allentown, damaging wind tends to come in with thunderstorms and big storm fronts.
- Hail, which bruises shingles and knocks their granules off, and often dents the gutters and metal vents in the same storm. It’s rarer here than out on the Great Plains.
- Ice dams, when heat from the house melts snow that freezes again at the eaves and pushes water back under the shingles. The cause is usually in the attic.
- Overhanging trees. Branches wear the shingles where they rub, and their leaves fill the gutters and valleys so water can’t drain freely.
- Flashing, usually metal, that seals the joints at chimneys, walls, skylights and vents. Those joints are the most vulnerable points on a roof, and rusted, cracked or loose flashing lets water in behind it.
- A split rubber boot on a plumbing vent pipe, dried out by sun and weather.
- A damp attic. Showers, cooking and everyday life put moisture into the air, and when it reaches a cold attic it can condense and rot the wood of the deck from underneath.
- Anything added on top later. A satellite dish or other hardware mounted on the shingles can turn into a leak, and anything that has to go up there needs proper flashing.
- Old patches. Roofing cement smeared over a leak nobody traced is a stopgap at best, and sealant in the wrong place can trap water instead of keeping it out.
Looking for it yourself, safely
Stay off the roof. A first look from the ground or an upstairs window, with binoculars if there’s a pair in the house, can catch the plainer signs outside. Then, after a rain, take a flashlight up to the attic and shine it on the boards around the chimney, the vent pipes and anywhere else flashing seals the roof. If you see daylight at the ridge vent, that’s what you’d expect from a vent that’s doing its job.
Take photos of whatever you find, inside and out. If water is dripping right now, the first steps are on our roof repair page.
Spotted one of these on your own roof? The estimate to fix what you’ve found is free. Call (484) 553-0213 or fill in the form on our contact page, and tell us what you’re seeing and where on the house.