How to Get your Roof Ready for Winter

From checking out your tiles to maintaining your guttering, we look at how to make sure your home is weather-ready for winter.

Dealing with a leak is a nightmare situation for any homeowner.

And with winter weather just around the corner, the likelihood of your property suffering a rupture in the roof is all the more likely. Especially if you don’t properly prepare for the storms to come.

Before the wind, rain, hail and snow arrives on our doorsteps, there are a few simple checks and tasks you can perform to ensure your roof is winter-ready. Check out our simple roof maintenance advice below.

Clear your guttering and drainpipes

As autumn leaves start to shed, it’s time to spend some time, care and attention on your roof guttering and drainpipes.

Guttering is an important – yet often neglected – part of your roof. Although all roof materials are designed to withstand a certain amount of rain, if your guttering gets blocked or backed-up with debris, leaves and dirt, you might quickly find issues with leaks. This is because water is not being efficiently diverted away from the roof during heavy rainfall, causing sections to be weakened or saturated.

Once the trees are bare, clean out any trapped mulch and attend to holes or leaks in the drainpipes. If you have a head for heights you can can do this yourself, but it might be an idea to employee a tradesman to do it for you – it’s a messy job!

Check for any leaks or weak spots

No matter if your roof is made from slate tiles, corrugated sheets or environmentally-friendly coroliine sheeting, it pays to ensure they are no issues before winter arrives.

And this involves performing a spot check on easily breached areas, such as where the chimney meets the roof, sections where peaks meet, loose over-lapping tiles and skylights or Velux windows.

Walk around your property and look for any sections which look worn or damaged, and don’t forget to take a good look at the chimney breast too. Issues with your roof can be easy to ignore in the summer months, so it’s important to do a proper survey before the rains come.

Additionally, you should also check for rot in the roofline or fascia, as this is an area that can easily cause issues if left unchecked. Do all of this in early autumn to ensure you have plenty of time to fix any problems or call in roofers before the frost sets in.

Don’t forget about your other structures

Remember, it’s not just important to maintain the roof material on your main building. A little attention given to bike sheds with corrugated roofs, sheds with onduline sheeting and greenhouses made from polycarbonate plastic sheets will also help to avoid disasters over the winter.

These areas, unlike the roof on your home, are much more easily maintained, and sections of roof sheeting can be replaced or repaired quite easily before the weather takes a turn for the worse.

Spend an afternoon assessing what needs to be fixed or patched to keep your outhouses safe and secure until the spring.

Call in an expert

Ignoring a problem with your roof will ultimately cost you dearly – whether in the form of a leak or a lingering problem that festers and causes more damage than necessary.

If you have any doubts or worries after checking your roof, always call in an expert to assess what needs to be done. Something which looks relatively minor to your untrained eye could end up being a serious issue if left to rot all winter.

Loose tiles should be secured and broken or cracked sheeting should always be replaced as soon as possible.