One of the areas of homes that tends to get damaged the most but repaired the least is, unsurprisingly, one of the areas that is seen the least – the roof. However, even though it often gets taken for granted, the roof is a crucial part of every home. It provides protection against rain, wind, and sun, and can take a significant beating if it is ignored for an extended period of time. Checking the roof a couple times a year is generally enough to assess the damage, but this article can provide you with a few tips for making roof maintenance less of a hassle, as well as how a home improvement company can help make maintaining the roof a lot easier.

One of the first things you will want to do, typically even before the home improvement company visits, is clear the roof of debris. This generally consists of leaves, pine needles, fallen branches, and other organic debris, but things like this tend to do a great job of soaking up water and helping it dig into your roof. After clearing the roof a repair company can help you check the roof for any signs of damaged or missing flashings, which are long, thin metal strips that protect seams in wood and metal from water and guide it into gutters.

Another important part of roof maintenance is, if you have a shingled roof, checking for cracked or broken shingles. A single damaged shingle can allow water to soak in underneath and damage the layer below, or even spur the growth of algae and mold. However, you should always be careful when walking on a shingle roof, as a single wrong step could break even more shingles. A home improvement company likely has a few roofing specialists on hand that are trained to deal with shingled roofs, and can help you assess and repair damage of this sort.

One of the most dangerous types of roof damage is on painted surfaces and asphalt shingles, when water soaks in through some damage on the roof and causes blistering. Blisters are indicative of water having gotten between the layer of paint or shingling and the one beneath it, holding it there but allowing it to damage both. If you find any blistered areas on your roof, absolutely do not puncture them. Calling a home improvement company will get a professional to deal with these problems in the right way.