Did you know? As part of your overall building management plan, it pays to check in on the integrity of your roof on a seasonal basis. As any good roofing consulting expert will tell you, the worst thing that can happen is that you ‘look up’ one day to find you have costly damage and repairs that could have been avoided with basic maintenance.

In fact, regularly scheduled maintenance is KEY to preventing issues before they happen, and avoiding expensive repairs from water leaks and needed repairs from other structural issues.

Read on for a convenient checklist of the most important ways to prevent issues before they start.

Maintenance Tips: How To Check Your Roof Each Season

1. Clean your gutters. Drainage problems will contribute to any issues, and make things much worse. In fact, poor drainage can cause a decaying roof to fail entirely.
2. Trim your trees. This almost goes without saying, but a reminder never hurts. You’ll want to walk around the building and see if any tree limbs might be hanging over the roof. Those will need to be removed, because heavy snow and ice could cause the limb to fall.
3. Give your roof a pre-winter inspection by looking at your interior walls. Look for stains, bubbling paint or darkening that might be evidence of water seepage through minor leaks and cracks.
4. If you find evidence of minor leaks, get proactive about patching them before winter water, snow, ice, and extreme temperatures make it much harder to fix. You’ll avoid further damage by doing so.
5. Make a proactive plan for snow removal. Adequate snow removal is key to the upkeep of your roof.
6. Check to see if your roof is under warranty, and create an emergency plan. Do you know how long it’s been since you’ve had your roof checked, repaired, or replaced? If you can’t remember, that’s a sign that it’s time for a review.
7. Schedule an assessment with an expert. The cost of having an expert take a look and identify any issues is MUCH less expensive than emergency repairs and issues caused by neglect.

Not sure what to have checked? As roofing consulting experts, we have some suggestions. In fact, we offer comprehensive services for customers in residential, industrial, business, religious and government sectors.

Check out this list of our services, to help you get an idea of what to ask for based on your individual circumstances.

McNeil Roofing Consulting Services

Our services focus squarely on prevention. We offer existing roof condition analysis, and internal humidity and condensation analysis to prevent water damage.

We also offer a review to provide overall recommendations for an ongoing maintenance plan. If necessary, we can also provide design and construction oversight for existing roof replacement.

We also provide new roofing system designs and construction oversight for new buildings, to help owners put in the best available system.

If this sounds like something you need to prepare for the coming season, please don’t hesitate to reach out with questions or to request additional information. The McNeil Engineering team has more than three decades of experience, and is ready to serve you!