Caring For Your New Roof

You’ve decided to replace/repair your roof with the FHA 203K Streamline mortgage program.  Once your new roof is done;  how to you plan to care for it?

Whether it’s simply replacing old shingles with new ones, or tearing apart the entire roof, wood and all, you’ll want to make sure you get the most money out this new roof. After all, you wouldn’t want to go through all the trouble again in 5 or 10 years. So here’s a look at a few maintenance steps you can take every season to make that roof last longer after the FHA 203k work is done.

1. Keep the roof clean. Keep twigs, leaves and other debris off the roof. Be especially vigilant after a storm. Make sure no branches fell on the roof from surrounding trees. As these wither, they can damage the integrity of the shingles and wood underneath.

2. Clean your gutters. You can get out the ol’ ladder in the spring and fall or find a gutter topping to keep stuff out. Either way, keeping those gutters clear and flowing will make sure no water gets backed up into your roof. Water in your gutters can make them heavy and rip them off your roof. It can also lead to leaks in your walls and water in the basement. I’ve even seen some houses with so much junk in the gutters, it looks like they’re growing trees!

3. Speaking of trees… Trim them! This goes along with the previous tips. Keeping the trees trimmed will help keep the roof and gutters clean.

4. Get rid of the moss. Keep your roof dry and moss-free to help make sure the shingles and wood underneath stay good for a long time. A little bleach and water mixture usually helps get rid of the moss, or call a professional if it won’t come clean

5. Where it snows – prevent ice dams. Preventing ice dams begins with keeping the gutters clean. When snow melts and has no where to go because your gutters are clogged, it build up, re-freezes and creates ice dams. So it goes back to keeping the gutters clean. Another way to help is to get a snow rake for the roof and keep the snow build-up to a minimum. You can also find snow melt cables that heat up and keep the snow and ice from building up (we do not endorse these products, because we’re not part of the inspection team or safety crew that makes sure they won’t catch anything on fire – but they sure look cool!).

Remember, as is the case with all 203K streamline improvements; they must be completed by an insured contractor.

Click here to sign up for our FREE online class: “Buy & Remodel All in One Loan”.