Unlike a standard shingle roof, cedar is a living material that breathes and reacts to the elements. This means it needs a different kind of love when the temperature starts to climb. The intense UV rays can bake the natural oils out of the wood. The high humidity can trap moisture in all the wrong places. If you ignore your shakes during these hot months, they can become brittle and start to curl or split. Taking time to look up at your house right now ensures that your roof stays strong and beautiful for many more seasons to come.
Clearing Away the Summer Shade Traps
While a big oak tree provides great shade for your porch, those overhanging branches can actually be a major problem for your cedar shakes. Leaves and pine needles love to get stuck in the gaps between the wood pieces, and when these piles get wet from a summer rain, they hold moisture directly against the wood for days. This trapped water creates a perfect home for moss and algae to grow. These tiny plants will eat away at the cedar fibers until the roof becomes soft and rots.
Check your roof after every big windstorm to make sure no new debris has landed in the valleys or behind the chimney. For instance, a small clump of wet maple seeds might seem harmless. However, if they sit there all July, they can cause the wood underneath to turn dark and mushy. Keeping the surface clear allows the cedar to dry out quickly after a storm. This is the most important thing you can do to prevent permanent damage.
Watching for the Sun’s Thirst
The summer sun is powerful. It sucks the moisture and natural preservatives out of every cedar shake. When the wood gets too dry, it begins to shrink and pull away from the nails. This can lead to gaps where a leak might start during a heavy downpour. You can spot this problem by looking for shakes that are starting to “cup” or turn upward at the edges like a Pringles potato chip. If you see many shakes starting to warp, it might be a sign that the wood needs a fresh treatment of oil-based preservative to stay flexible. Checking for these warped pieces early allows you to replace a few bad shakes before the entire roof starts to look like a wavy mess.
The Importance of Proper Breathing Room
Most people do not realize that a cedar roof needs to breathe from both the top and the bottom to stay in good shape. Your attic ventilation is actually a huge part of your roof maintenance. If the attic gets too hot, it can literally cook the shakes from the inside out. When the heat gets trapped under the roof deck, it causes the wood to expand and contract too quickly. This leads to deep cracks and splits that go all the way through the shake. You should make sure your soffit vents are not blocked by insulation so that fresh air can constantly flow up and out through the ridge.
Now that you know what to look for, you can spend the rest of your summer enjoying the shade instead of worrying about the roof. You prevent the harsh summer elements from turning your investment into a repair project. If you have concerns or require cedar shake services, contact A-Top Roofing & Construction in Manalapan Township, NJ.