You want a safe home. You want a warm home. And of course, you want an energy-efficient home. Do you know what can help you achieve all of these goals? Your roof. That's right, if you call up a roofer and tell them about your desires, they can recommend some roofing repairs or materials to help you achieve those desires. They may recommend a metal roof, or they might recommend adding zinc strips to the roof peak. It all depends. One thing we can promise, though, is that learning more about roofing is a good idea. This blog is a good resource, but we recommend looking for other ones, too.
4 Questions About Roof Flashing Answered
When it comes to your roof, there are many different moving parts you need to be aware of. Various parts protect your roof from damage. One of the parts that protect your roof from damage is flashing.
What is Flashing?
Flashing is metal pieces that help keep water away from where it doesn't belong. It is most often used to protect waterways where your roof meets with itself or with adjacent walls. For example, if you have a chimney, you may have flashing around it. Or if your roof slopes in two directions, coming together, the channel where the two sides meet more than likely has flashing. Or, if you have a headwall where the roof meets a wall, you may have flashing there.
Why is Flashing Used?
All these areas have in common that water tends to flow through these areas and build up more than other areas of the roof. That is why flashing is put in place; to protect these vulnerable areas and to ensure that water flows freely and doesn't get under the roof in these vulnerable areas where two different types of materials meet.
What is Flashing Made Of?
Different types of materials are used for the flashing. Common metal flashing material includes copper, galvanized steel, aluminum, and copper. PVC is used as a flashing material as well. Different flashing materials can withstand different levels of wear and tear. Often, the flashing will wear out before other roofing materials.
What Happens When the Flashing is Damaged?
Although flashing helps protect your home from water damage, if your roof is experiencing water damage, the flashing is the first thing that you should check out. Often, the metal corrodes, and small holes develop in the flashing. When small holes develop, they can be patched up using roofing cement. As long as the hole is on the smaller side, you can fill in the area with roofing cement and stop the leak.
If you have more than a small hole in the flashing and you notice excessive corrosion or damage, you will want to work with a roofing professional to replace the damaged flashing. To replace it, multiple rows of shingles will have to be removed, and then the flashing will need to be replaced, and the shingles will then have to be put back in place. You may also need to use caulking around the edge of the flashing.
Flashing helps to protect your roof from water damage. However, it often doesn't last as long as other roofing materials. If you get a small leak, you can patch it with roofing cement, and if you have a large leak, you will need to have a professional replace the flashing itself.
For more information on residential roofing repair, contact a company like Sombreros Roofing.