The foundation, walls, and roof of your home are all essential in protecting its occupants from the weather. When it comes to your roof, the temptation to save money by going DIY has significant drawbacks. If you’re not a New England roofing professional, you should think twice before being your own roofer.
Putting up a durable roof takes time and experience. You want your roof to completely protect your home from leaks, significant heating or cooling loss, and all types of weather in order to keep the rest of the structure strong and your family comfortable. While not every little leak or problem will require an expensive re-roofing, even some minor repairs should be left to the professionals.
You can tell when your roof needs to be repaired or replaced when you start seeing certain tell-tale signs. If you have experienced significant hail in your area, you will definitely need to get it inspected by a professional. If shingles or shakes are blowing off during storms or windy weather, they crumble underfoot when you’re walking on the roof, or asphalt shingles start shedding their granules, it may be time to start getting estimates for a new roof. In your home, you could be experiencing major leaks that are discoloring your walls or pooling in the attic.
The problem with doing it all yourself is threefold: it’s dangerous; an amateur mistake could be very detrimental to your finished roof and require future repairs that are costly; you’ll probably pay a lot more for the materials than a professional contractor would.
Let’s start with the danger. If your roof is steeply pitched, there’s the obvious possibility of falling off. Just as dangerous is the possibility of falling through your roof. Pro roofers know what safety precautions to take to keep this from happening.
Amateur mistakes are very common. Unfortunately, these mistakes can be very costly down the road. Do you want to risk needing a whole new roof just because you thought you’d fix the leaks yourself? If you don’t know what you’re doing, do not mess with DIY repair, even if you’ve found an amazing website that gives you all the directions. Additionally, you might void your home warranty or insurance by failing to hire a professional roofing company to take care of things.
Pros get discounts on high-volume purchases, and you are not likely to get the same discounts for materials when you’re fixing your own roof.
Hopefully, you’ve seen the folly in trying to fix or replace your roof yourself or with your helpful but equally inexperienced buddies. A professional New England roofing company is your best bet at staying safe, getting the job done right, and remaining cost effective. Happy home ownership!