How Summer Heat Ages a Roof in Fontana

How does sun age a roof covering?

Sun ages a roof covering by heating its surface, drying out the oils and binders that keep it flexible and wearing the granules off its face. Over time the covering becomes less supple, and its tabs crack at the nail line when lifted.

The surface of an asphalt shingle is protected by its granules. Strong sun and heat wear those granules away, which leaves the mat exposed and dries the asphalt below. A shingle that has lost its granules and dried out cracks more easily when a gust lifts it.

Other coverings react differently. Clay and concrete tile are heavy and hold their shape but can crack at the edges or the fixings. Metal panels expand and contract, and their finish can fade. Each covering has its own wear pattern, which a crew sees on the survey.

Why do the joints fail before the covering?

Joints fail first because they are where two different materials meet. The sealant at a flashing, a vent or a wall moves with the sun and the heat, and it dries and cracks sooner than the covering around it.

A flashing sits on the covering and against a wall or a vent pipe. Each material expands and contracts at its own rate in the heat, and the sealant between them takes the strain. Over a few summers the sealant shrinks, dries and opens a gap that water can use.

A crew checks the sealant at the joints first on a summer call. A bead that has pulled away or dried into a crack is a sign of heat wear, and it is often the first repair a roof needs.

What does the attic add to the heat on a roof?

The attic adds heat from below. The hot air at the peak of an attic that is poorly vented bakes the underside of the deck and the underlayment, and that heat speeds up the aging of both.

Heat that passes through the deck does not leave the roof when the attic is closed. The underlayment sits between the deck and the covering, and long exposure to heat from below makes it brittle. A brittle underlayment fails at its laps when water finds its way past a shingle above.

The attic check on a summer call looks at the vents, the insulation and the underside of the deck. Staining, blistering and warped boards are the marks that show a roof has run hot for a long time.

How does a season-by-season check catch heat wear?

A check in each season finds a different kind of wear: the rain-season joints in the autumn, the heat-dried sealant after the summer and the lifted edges after any strong wind. Each check is recorded so the next one can be compared with it.

The calendar below sets out the checks by season. The spring check looks for the winter's effects and prepares the roof for the heat. The summer check looks for dried sealant and attic heat. The autumn check prepares the roof for the rain, and a post-wind check follows any strong event.

A written record of each check, with photographs in the same positions, shows how a point changes from one season to the next. A crew can use that record to decide whether a point needs a repair now or a watch at the next visit.

A homeowner who keeps the written record of each season will be able to see a change that a single look would miss. A tab that was marked as sound one year and as watch the next is a clear signal, and the crew can then decide whether to act now or at the next scheduled check. The record is a plain document, and it belongs with the roof papers.

Which coverings handle sun and heat differently?

Coverings differ in how they respond to heat, and the right choice depends on the roof, the budget and the look wanted. A crew explains how each option handles sun and heat before a choice is made, rather than giving a general ranking.

Asphalt shingles are a common covering and they are affected by sun in the way described above. Tile and metal are also in use, and each has its own movement and its own fixings. Flat sections use a membrane that is checked for blistering and seam wear.

The guide to materials on this site covers those choices in more detail. Here the point is that heat acts on every covering, and the check that catches the wear is the same in principle for each one.

What can a homeowner do to slow heat wear?

A homeowner can keep the roof clear of debris, look at the joints after the summer, keep the attic vents clear and arrange a check on the roof each year. These steps do not stop heat wear, but they catch it early and keep a small repair from becoming a large one.

Keep the gutters clear, since a dry leaf-filled gutter adds heat and holds moisture against the edge of the roof. Look at the roof from the ground for lifted or cracked tabs, and at the sealant around the vents and the chimney. Keep the vents at the eave and the ridge free of paint and insulation.

Ask a crew for a written check in the late spring or early summer and again before the rain season. The written record is the baseline that shows how the roof changes over the years. Ask the crew to show you each point on the roof that it recorded, so the written note and the roof can be checked against each other.

How do the roof boards and the nails age under a hot attic?

Roof boards and nails age in a hot, moist attic more slowly than the covering does, but they age all the same. Heat dries the wood and loosens the nails, and moisture that is driven up from the house can condense and wet the boards in the cooler months.

A roof board that is dried by heat shrinks and can split along the grain. A split board holds a nail less well, and the shingles fixed to it can lift in the next gust. A crew checks the underside of the deck from the attic for splits, stains and dark boards that show heat or moisture has been at work.

Nails that work loose in the boards let the covering move, and a moving covering cracks at its nail line. A crew that finds backed-out nails resets them and fastens them to the rafter, so that the shingle stays flat in the next wind. The attic check is where this is found, long before the surface shows any damage.

How is heat wear told apart from storm damage?

Heat wear is gradual and spread across the surface, while storm damage is sudden and usually concentrated on the windward side. A crew reads the pattern of the damage to tell which one it is looking at, and it records the reasons in writing.

Heat wear shows as drying, cracking and loss of granules across a slope, often with the same pattern on each side of the roof. The surface looks tired rather than broken, and the attic often shows the same heat marks on the boards. Storm damage tends to show as lifted tabs, displaced caps and bent flashing on the side the wind struck.

The difference matters for the record. A roof that has worn gradually is a different question from one that was damaged on a particular day, and the homeowner should know which one the crew has found. The written note gives the evidence for each judgment, so that the homeowner and any insurer can follow the reasoning.