Signs your roof may need to be replaced

Winter can be a tough time for houses, especially their roofs. While the rest of the exterior may experience high winds and winter weather, roofs have to deal with snow during storms and for days after. It can sit on the roof and potentially cause damage to the structure. But for many people who live in the Northeast, it can be difficult to know when it’s time to call in roofing companies and think about replacement options.

Here are a few things to look for both in the interior and on the exterior of your home to find out whether your roof is failing.

Leaks
Even the least handy of homeowners knows that a leak is a bad sign. But sometimes a roof leak doesn’t translate to water pouring through the ceiling. You may find varied degrees of water damage in the interior of your home. It can show as bubbling plaster, peeling paint or dark gray streaks. On the outside, mold and rot under the shingles may be a sign of a leak, but not necessarily in those shingles, SheKnows noted. It’s possible a shingle above has a leak and it ran down. Anything you suspect as water damage warrants a call to your roofing contractor.

Missing shingles
This may also eventually translate to leaks, but can usually be spotted early on. Unlike big water damage issues, roofing companies can usually come in for a quick fix on a home that lost a few shingles. Although you’ll want to poke your head up around the roof every so often to make sure everything looks OK, you may notice missing shingles by looking at the lawn rather than the roof. Following a hurricane, blizzard or just high winds, shingles may blow off but not go far. Just act quickly if you suspect missing shingles in order to avoid future problems. This warning sign still applies for wooden and tile roofs too.

Sagging
Unfortunately, sagging roofs can be a particular problem following the winter. Even if snow piling up on the roof didn’t cause a break or leak during the winter, it may have caused permanent structural damage to the roof. A roofing company should be able to make an assessment for how to fix the issue before the structure collapses and costs substantially more.

Age
Depending on the materials and how they were put in, roofs can last anywhere between 15 and 30 years. If you’re starting to wonder about the age of your roof, talk to your roofer about a consultation to get preventative work done.