When you're a new homeowner, it can take a while to figure out what is normal and what is not. Sometimes, it is OK to blunder through this process and make a few mistakes. But when it comes to bigger home components, such as your roof, there's not a lot of room for error. Rest assured that if your roof is doing these things or showing these signs, it is not normal. Rather, you should call a roofing contractor.
Heavy Ice Buildup in the Winter
In the winter, does your roof tend to accumulate a lot of ice? Usually, you will see most of the ice building up on the edge of the roof. The piles of ice will grow thicker and thicker over time. These ice formations are known as ice dams. They are not a good thing as they can cause extensive damage to the shingles along the edge of the roof, which will subsequently lead to leaks.
If you have ice dams, call a roof contractor. They will likely add insulation to your roof to help prevent dams from forming in the future. The insulation will reduce the amount of heat that passes through your roof. Then, the snow that falls on your roof won't melt and re-form into ice.
Shiny Dark Spots
If you look up at a shingle roof and see shiny dark spots, those spots are not just a decorative feature. They are places where the roof has been damaged, probably by hail. The hail has knocked the granules off those parts of the shingles, revealing the shinier material below. These areas are likely to start leaking if you don't do anything to fix the shingles soon. A roof repair contractor will likely remove the shingles with damage and replace them with new ones. If all or most of the shingles are hail damaged, you might need a roof replacement.
Lifted Shingles
If your shingles look like they are lifted or a little raised on one side, you might assume they're fine because they are still in place and because there are other shingles beneath them. You're partially correct in that the lifted shingles will probably not leak right away. But they will eventually get torn off the roof, so you want to have them replaced or repaired sooner rather than later.
Now that you know these roof problems are not normal, you can take appropriate steps to address them.
