When you rely on your home to provide you with comfort and shelter, you can't take any risks with its ability to keep water outdoors where it belongs. Great roofing is instrumental in the fight against the elements, because it helps to create the kind of environment you need to keep your home and family safe. Unfortunately, there are many homes that don't have strong, reliable roofs, which can cause problems in the long run. On this website, check out excellent ways to spot roofing problems and resolve them quickly. After all, your home is your most valuable asset, so protect it now.
When people think about a roof falling apart, their minds often drift to the iconic images of a house flooding with water and buckets being placed everywhere to catch it. But sometimes the early stages of a roof going bad aren't quite so obvious. If you know that there's mold that develops on your ceiling and comes back no matter how many times you clean it, the issue could be your roof. Here's what you need to know about this.
What's Causing It
Repeated mold in the same place in a room that isn't typically humid or damp is usually caused by one thing: moisture coming in from the outside. It isn't necessary for a lot of water to come in; just mild moisture or a small leak may be enough to induce mold. Unfortunately, if you can see mold on the inside of your house, chances are the attic or upper crawl space has a mold problem, too.
How it Gets There
There's only one way that moisture gets into the top of your home from the outside—something is wrong with your roof. If you've had repeated rains and haven't developed any major leaks, there's one of two possibilities. Either the water is pooling in your attic/upper crawl space and hasn't begun to drip through yet, or the roof is letting in moisture through tiny holes or because of shingles that have fallen off without succumbing to a full leak yet.
The good news about this is that if you act quickly, you can potentially prevent yourself from having to put up with a full-fledged leak and the damage that it can cause.
What to Do
The first thing you should do, if you can, is to go up to the attic or crawl space and take a look around. Work with a friend or relative that can tap on the ceiling from the room with the mold damage so you can figure out exactly where to look upstairs.
If you see mold or pooling water, leave immediately. Mold is unsafe for your lungs and pooling water could indicate that structural damage has been done to the inside of your home, and it could be dangerous to walk around up there.
If it seems like there's nothing amiss in the attic, chances are moisture is the only thing getting through. That's good news, because it's less likely to cause permanent damage.
Your second step is to call a roofer. Explain the problem you're having and ask for someone to come out and inspect your roof for problems. By acting quickly, your roofer may be able to repair your roof with new shingles or new tar rather than having to replace the entire thing.
For more information, get in touch with a residential roofing contractor near you.