Winter weather can be hard on your roof. If you don't take care of your roof, you can end up needing a lot of expensive repairs. You may have to wait until spring to get those repairs done because working on a roof when there is a lot of ice and snow on it can be very dangerous. The longer you have to wait for the repairs, the worse the damage can be, which means you'll have to pay more out-of-pocket to get the damage fixed. You can do a few things to help your roof survive winter better.
Rake the Roof
Snow is a lot heavier than people think it is. Dry powdery snow is relatively light and can be blown around, but thick wet snow is much heavier and can add much weight to your roof. That additional weight can cause all kinds of problems, up to and including causing your roof to collapse. Snow can also absorb other moisture, so if it rains when you have snow on your roof, it can absorb and hold onto that moisture. That just adds even more weight to your roof.
The best way to handle that and keep problems from happening is to remove the snow from your roof. Raking your roof isn't all that hard, you can go to a hardware or home improvement store and get a roof rake. Then you just start pulling snow off your roof. You probably won't get it all up your roof, but you should be able to get enough of your roof to keep problems from happening.
Turn Up the Heat
This doesn't necessarily mean turning up the heat in your house because that will just run up your utility bills. Instead, this means that you should have some kind of heating element installed on your roof. The reason to have this heating element installed on your roof is to prevent ice jams. Ice jams can cause water to get under your shingles which will damage your roof and cause problems like your ceiling falling. The heating elements used for this purpose come in various styles. One looks like a ribbon. It is installed on your roof using nails or staples, usually just up a little bit from the edges of your roof.
Winter is hard on everything, including your roof. Talk to your roofing contractor about what you should do to make sure that your roof will stay in good shape all winter long. If you need to have any repairs done, it would be good to get them done before winter really hits.
Contact residential roof repair services to learn more.