Worn-out roofing: repair or replace

After being exposed to harsh elements for several years, your roof will eventually need a fix. But how do you know whether you should go for a partial repair or a full-blown re-roofing? Here are some tips to help you out.

Assess the damage

Before knowing whether a partial roof repair or a complete overhaul is more suitable for your roof, you have to see the extent of the damage first. A broken shingle or two definitely aren’t candidates for a total replacement. Sometimes, a specific portion of your roof can suffer from water or sun damage, which wears it down faster than other parts of the roof. In other cases, your entire roof would show signs of wear, such as brittleness, cracking, or moisture damage. There are many different cases of roof damage, so you have to carefully inspect your roofing to know how to proceed.

Check your budget

Sometimes, partial roof damage will benefit more from a total roof replacement, but you won’t have a choice in the matter if your budget won’t allow it. Getting quotes for partial and complete roof repair should help you make a wise decision. Many roofers charge more per square for partial roof repairs, so if the damaged area is quite big, the cost of the partial and complete repair might not differ too much.

Be careful when getting quotes, though. If only one out of several tradies gives you a quote for roof replacement that fits your budget, make sure that they can be trusted to deliver a solid job. If you go for cheap roof replacement from a shady roofer instead of a good patch-up from a trustworthy one, you might have another roof repair job in the near future.

Weigh the pros and cons

Say you decided to just go for roof repair to replace a couple of shingles that got broken by a fallen tree limb. However, you can’t find any replacement that even remotely matches the rest of your roof. Does this mean that you should just replace your entire roof? It definitely depends on your priorities. If you just can’t live with a patchy roof, or if you’re planning on putting your home on the market after a few years, you might want to go for a roof replacement. Also, if your roof is already several decades old, a roof replacement might be more beneficial, even if just one side is showing extreme signs of wear.

Replacing your entire roof in one go would probably be cheaper and less time-consuming than replacing different parts of it within a few years. Naturally, if the damage is very minimal, roof repair is the way to go. You wouldn’t buy a new car just because one of its tires got blown, right? The same thing can be applied to roofing. In the end, it’s all a matter of whether you should spend more today and worry less tomorrow or the other way around.

If you still can’t decide whether to repair or replace your roof, it’s time to get some help from the pros – get quotes from roof specialists now!