So ‘they’ say you should inspect your roof but ‘they’ don’t say what you should be looking for and how to go about finding it.

One way is kind of fun and it will amuse your children to be outside in the dark. On a clear night turn on the attic light (or put a strong light into your attic) and go outside and look up. The only light you should see should be at the vents and window. Walk around the house. Walk down the street a little so you can see your roof from all angles. Hopefully you will not see any light from other places. Make sure to look at the fascia boards, gutters and soffits which is the boards and vents between the house and roof including the rafters. You do need vents in the attic and at the ridges you probably have baffle boards in the eaves. But it should be slits of light at most, not a strong light.

On a bright sunny day go into your attic with the light out and see what daylight you can see. At most there should be a glow of light at the eaves (end of rafters by floor) you should not be able to see your neighbor. If you have a ridge vent there could be light at the ridge but again it should be a glow more than a ray of light.

You should clean your gutters in fall after the leaves have fallen. If you clean them yourself keep an eye out for shingle granules which look like sand and are the color of your roof. Most current roofs have 30 year shingles but if the granules are coming off you should call a roofing expert like George J. Keller & Sons, LLC to inspect it for you. If you have a professional do the gutter cleaning for you ask them to look for the granules. Also ask them to look around for you at the fascia board. The gutter should be snug against the fascia. The shingles should be flat on the roof. They might be willing to take pictures for you while up there.

Look for moss or lichen on the north side of the roof. If you have a very small amount you can try cleaning it yourself but if it’s thick and fluffy leave it alone and call for help getting rid of it. The problem is it has a considerable root system under the shingles and power washing might lift the shingles up which would be bad. Shingles work because they overlap and are flat. This issue needs to be addressed as soon as you see it because moss keeps growing and spreading.

If you have any concerns about what might or might not be damage to your roof please don’t hesitate to call us today at 973-927-0963.