Every roof gets exposed to all sorts of weather conditions. No homeowner can keep the weather from having some effect on the home’s rooftop. What any homeowner can learn to do touches on the act of prevention; each of them can learn how to detect the earliest signs of damage and then keep it from becoming much worse.

The sinister effect of impact damage

No one can miss the damage done to a roof if a large tree branch hits it. Still, homeowners do not always appreciate the importance of ensuring immediate removal of even twigs and small branches. While those do not create visible damage, any one of them could redirect water towards one of the roof’s weaker sections.
In addition, hail can dislodge some of the roof’s protective granules. If an inspection reveals the presence of dark spots, then it appears that hail has had a sinister impact. It has weakened the roof’s ability to protect those that live under it. In other words, even small amounts of damage can diminish the level of safety that is normally associated with a roof’s presence.

The never-ending threat: thermal shock

No homeowner can eliminate the threat posed by thermal shock. In temperate climates, nighttime temperatures can fall well below those that kept people warm in the daytime. The roof’s materials can demonstrate the effect of such changing temperatures. The level of that effect seems greatest in those areas where direct sunlight hits the roof top each morning, and keeps shining on that same surface throughout the daylight hours.
In addition to a roof’s location with respect to the sun, its age can also contribute to thermal shock. Younger roofs are more flexible, because the tar has not yet dried out. The dried tar in older rooftops can cause shingles to crack, curl or buckle. Roofers in Menlo Park know that fact helps to underline the wisdom behind investing in a roof replacement.

The ever-worsening threat: freeze-thaw damage

When water gets into any of the roof’s cracks and then freezes at night, that frozen water expands. As it expands, it exerts a force and causes the size of the crack to increase. Then when it rains more water can enter that larger crack. In that way the damaging process keeps repeating itself.
Fortunately, the smart homeowner can watch for crack formation and repair that invitation to trouble. Once repaired, the crack’s ability to hold water vanishes. That then keeps water from collecting in a crevice. Hence, any freezing temperatures will not become a sign that the rooftop has gotten exposed to an ever-worsening threat.