We’d like our blog readers to remember that anyone who owns a North Carolina home whose roof has suffered tree damage might have damage so vast and extensive that they could actually need to get a new roof. We provide roof inspections to anyone who wants them, and we do it for free. It’s always possible that our roofing professionals might discern that the damage a tree does to your roof is enough that you need a whole new roof to be installed.
The roof on top of your home is the first line of defense your family has against from the elements of North Carolina nature and weather. It’s usually pretty mild, and often beautiful, but not always. The state also has lots of trees, and if trees are hanging over your roof, they can cause severe damage. You might know just how much damage that one single branch can do. Branches can jeopardize your home and in many different ways. Keep reading to learn some of the common ways how trees might damage your North Carolina home and roof.
Falling branches are the first concern, because gravity is a law that is never broken, and it works 24/7. Any tree branch that hangs over a roof of a home has a good chance of falling on it someday. If an overhanging branch physically dies, then the odds of it falling down onto your roof go up quite a bit. Be mindful of your tree branches, and look out for broken ones, particularly after a brisk storm. Unfortunately for some trees, you might not realize that a tree branch broke until weeks later when its leaves turn brown.
A second concern is that animals can use branches almost like paths, streets, or roads to get access to your roof. Possums, raccoons, squirrels, chipmunks, and even rabbits can have field days up in the branches over your roof. Don’t be too shocked if you wake up one morning to the sounds of scratching in your attic just because a family of raccoons decided to let themselves in.
Third, moisture can accumulate. Branches which provide your roof shade or even lie right on top of the shingles can mean that moisture won’t evaporate as quickly as it should. That could mean moisture that soaks actually into the roof. Over time, that moisture can cause rot, so your roof starts to decay. You’ll eventually have leaks, and you might even have higher energy bills since air escapes.
Fourth, leaves that fall off of branches can wind up clogging up gutters. Remember that gutters exist for one reason and one reason only, and that’s taking water from the roof and then sending it as far as it can from the home. This way, there won’t be any water leaking down into the home’s foundation or rotting away any siding. Gutters that get clogged up with leaves are going to eventually overflow with the rainwater available, sending it cascading right down the siding. At best, that’s just going to leave some ugly stains. At worst, it might rot the siding before causing a foundation shift that leaves your home physically unstable.
Branches are able to scratch and even damage shingles. The majority of shingles are made from little granules of asphalt. Over time, shingles will lose their granules gradually, thanks to dust, exposure to sunlight, and rainstorms. However, tree branches can also scrape them off the roof. If the wind blows any branches across the roof of your home, then the shingles up there will wear down a lot faster than they should, which puts your roof at higher risk for leaks or even shingles that might fly off during a storm.
We hope that this list of the primary ways in which trees can damage your home in North Carolina has been insightful to you. If you’d like us to visit your home or even a commercial property that you own in the Tarheel State so we can give you a free roof inspection, do not hesitate to reach out to us. Any of our available roofing professionals can help you decide whether or not the damage your roof has suffered thanks to trees means that you should get a new roof put in place.