Sometimes it can feel like the only thing more expensive than repairing a roof is maintaining one. But with some proactive work, you can get ahead and make sure that you are saving as much money on your roof as possible. This article will break down five of the best simple improvements you can make to your roof to save vast amounts of time and money in the future.
1. Dry Fix
Dry fix refers to replacing the mortar used to secure ridge, hip and verge tiles with mechanical fixings, clamps and waterproof unions. This eliminates the expense of looking after crumbling old mortar, which does not bear cold and wet easily and only gets more costly to patch up as time goes on.
2. Roof Vents
Condensation is a huge, ongoing concern when it comes to roofs. The loft area is often a quite cold part of the house, so when water vapour gets there it is cooled down easily. The issue is that cold air cannot hold as much water as hot air, so when the vapour cools it transforms back into moisture. Over time this moisture can cause mould and rot.
Roof vents stop condensation in its tracks by allowing the air to leave. Roof vents can be installed on the top of the roof in the form of roof tile vents, in the roofing felt with lap felt vents, at abutments with abutment vents or even in the fascia and soffit with fascia vents and circular soffit vents.
3. Breather Membrane
Another way of getting around condensation is only available if you have a warm roof. This is a roof where the insulation is in the roof itself rather than the floor. If this is the case you can replace non-breather roof felt with breather membrane. This permeable underlay allows water vapour outside but not inside. This massively lowers your need for roof vents.
You can even buy YBS insulation – this is 2-in-1 breather membrane and roof insulation, if you’re interested in turning a cold roof loft into a warm roof loft.
4. Patination Oil
When lead is laid on a roof for the first time it doesn’t have any sort of protection against the air. This makes it vulnerable to oxidisation, which produces a chemical similar to lead paint. The result can be ugly white scrawls all over your lead and tiles. To avoid having to deal with this, you can have your lead installed with patination oil right from the word go.
Patination oil will protect the lead from oxidisation until it has had time to develop its own patina underneath. Patination oil also gives lead a pleasing dark colour, to the point that often after the lead has long since passed the point of needing it patination oil will sometimes be applied to lead for this colour.
5. Hedgehog Gutter Brush
Hedgehog gutter brushes are long bundles of stainless steel wire covered in polypropylene bristles. They are placed in a house’s guttering, keeping out obstructions. Though you will need to clean them every few years, they are a serious improvement to the gutter, since they protect it from threats as varied as leaves to bird nests.
