How to Know When It’s Time to Replace Your Roof: 5 Considerations to be Made

For a home or building owner, navigating how to know when it’s time to replace your roof can be a daunting task. A roof replacement is no small feat, both in scope and cost. It’s understandable for a home or building owner to elect for alternatives for as long as possible. Eventually, however, postponing a roof replacement becomes unwise.

As for how to know when it’s time to replace your roof, as is true in all matters of your roof’s health, regular and consistent roof inspections conducted by a licensed roofer will serve as your compass. You’ll see this theme throughout the remainder of this blog.

How to know when it’s time to replace your roof doesn’t have to be a matter of disorientation. With the help of your licensed roofer and these 5 considerations, you can be sure your roof will live its fullest life and make an informed decision come time for replacement.

How Damaged is Your Roof

Assessing your roof’s sustained damages can be difficult for the untrained eye. This, of course, leaves how to know when it’s time to replace your roof hard to discern. Perhaps you’ve discovered some misplaced shingles in your yard after a storm. Maybe a glint from a section of damaged metal flashing caught your eye. A leak above the dining room table would surely clue you in on your roof’s damage.

Where a licensed roofing contractor provides value here is in the assessment of the extent of your roof’s damage. As a home or building owner, you can spot signs of damage just fine. But has your roof’s deck or structural integrity been damaged? Is your roofing material failing to withstand the weather? The depth of the damage is not something for a home or building owner to discern on their own.

Contact your licensed roofer, bring damages to their attention, and keep up on your roof inspections.

How Seasoned is Your Roof

Perhaps one of the greatest determining factors in how to know when to replace your roof is its age. This detail alone can inform how to go about any damages your roof may incur. Many licensed roofers will estimate the lifespan of a roof to be somewhere between 15 and 30 years – this varies depending on a variety of factors. If your roof is in the early stages of this lifecycle, then damages most likely can be repaired and your roof’s lifespan prolonged.

As your roof ages, however, damages can have a larger impact on the integrity of your roof. Those repairs made to your young roof will multiply, and in time, will wear. Regular roof inspections by your licensed roofer are crucial for the entirety of your roof’s lifespan – especially so toward the end of its days. Annual roof inspections will provide savings over time by avoiding both reactive repairs and the consequential damages left from past seasons’ weather.

You cannot escape roof replacement. As dramatic as that may seem, it’s true. The options are to leave it to wear away, or replace it before it does.

What Makes Up Your Roof

A clue in determining how to know when to replace your roof lies in the material that makes up your roof. Your roofing material is one of the varieties of variables noted above. In Colorado, there are many common roofing materials to choose from. The average lifespan of your roof is nearly completely determined by of what it’s made.

Consider a slate roof. A roof of this material can endure over 100 years in some environments. Repairs for this type of roofing material often make the most sense – tiles are often inexpensively and easily replaced. However, the endurance of this roofing material can hide structural damage.

Once again, regular roof inspections from your licensed roofer are your greatest security. Not only can they determine your roof type and its remaining life expectancy, they can uncover what’s hidden and save you the burden of surprise from extensive damages.

What Weather is Before Your Roof

For Colorado home and building owners, the weather is a relentless and attention-commanding variable in your roof’s health. From hail storms and extreme winds to heavy snow and rain, Colorado roofs are no strangers to beatings from mother nature. This makes how to know when to replace your roof even more critical.

Regular roof inspections should occur in the spring and fall before and after Colorado’s major storms. Getting a professional’s eyes on your roof before the heavy storms will save you money in the long run. Skipping this component of roof maintenance can leave you with damage expenses exceeding those of a roof replacement.

You can do many things to prepare your roof for storms and avoid unnecessary damage caused by mother nature. (read: How to Prepare Your Roof for Winter in Colorado) None of them, please note, will adequately replace the value of your regular roof inspections.

How Long You’ll Be Under Your Roof

For homeowners, whether you’re planning on retiring in your home or relocating in a few years, a roof in good condition is of value. If you plan to stick around, the benefits of a roof replacement are obvious and you’ll reap them over the remaining duration of your stay. For homeowners planning on relocating, a roof replacement is still of value. With a new roof, your home will be worth more than with one old and worn.

Whether it’s you or another family benefiting from your roof's protection, you and your licensed roofer can navigate how to know when it's time to replace your roof. 

Knowing How to Know When It’s Time to Replace Your Roof

An asset as significant as the roof of your home or building can often feel like a looming burden. Don’t grow weary! The health of your roof must not be overlooked. While a roof replacement is a costly endeavor, regular roof maintenance, which includes those inspections we’ve so frequently mentioned, will ensure the value of your roof endures for years to come.

At the Colorado Roofing Association, we prioritize educating home and building owners on roofing best practices and connecting them with qualified and licensed roofing professionals. Between our consumer resources and our contractor search tool, you’ll have everything you need to navigate how to know when it’s time to replace your roof.