Winter Weather Effects on Residential Roofing Systems

Winter Weather Effects on Residential Roofing Systems

While North Texas isn’t known for it’s tough winters, this area is known for being unpredictable when it comes to weather. One day you walk outside to the sun shining and within hours, you find yourself in the middle of a thunderstorm. The instability of Texas weather isn’t for everyone, but for those of us who choose to stay, it’s important to prepare for any and every weather situation.
During the winter, we face a lot of sleet, rain, and even snow. During these weather situations, your home suffers the strain, especially your roof. Let’s take a look at how different winter weather elements affect your home.

Wind

Strong wind storms are probably the most likely to occur during the winter months in Texas. The wind speeds and force of the wind often means missing, loose, torn, and ruined shingles and flashing. It also negatively affects the stability of a roof’s ridges and rakes.

To prevent damage and protect your home against wind damage, it’s important that you invest in quality roofing materials. Finding a roofing company that offers superior roofing shingles can be more expensive, but it’s always worth it for the durability and quality of the shingles. Look for high quality manufacturers, like GAF, CertainTeed, Inspire by Tapco, DaVinci Roofscapes, Engineered Steel, and more bands like this have the highest ratings and longest lasting materials on the market.

In addition to finding a quality shingle, you want a shingle that comes with a warranty on wind damage up to 110 mph as opposed to a standard three-tab warranty (which covers about 60 to 70 mph).

To prevent wind damage from occurring, have a roof inspection before the thick of winter hits. If any small issues are found, fix them immediately. If you don’t, the winter weather will only expound on those problems. Look around your property to see if any branches could be potentially harmful to your roof system. Have a tree-trimming service cut them back.

Ice

Ice is another common winter weather element found in North Texas. We don’t see much snow, but we will touch on that briefly.

Snow, when piled up, can put a lot of pressure on a roof system. In fact, if too much piles up, it will exceed the load-bearing capacity of your roof system and can be incredibly harmful to your roof.

Ice is the most common winter element to affect North Texas residential properties. Ice, most often, builds up on the eaves of the roof system. This happens when snow melts or it rains and water builds up, then re-freezes. This potential problem blocks your gutters, prevents water from exiting the roof, and creates a dam. If the water doesn’t have an escape, it can sit and seep into the home.

To prevent this situation from occurring, do regular self-inspections during winter. Minimize ice damming by cleaning out your gutters, insulating your attic, and treating your eaves with a liquid treatment that melts ice.

It’s inevitable, winter weather affects the exterior of homes. While water, ice, wind, and snow pose as potential threats to your roof system, there are plenty of ways to prevent any damage. Stay ahead of it by preparing your roof system for winter.