With the hint of spring in the air, Atlanta-area homeowners begin the annual ritual of spring cleaning. Inside, outside, top to bottom — it all gets cleaned. What about your roof before the heavy spring rains arrive? You need a three-step approach of inspection, roof repair, or roof replacement.

Inspect

An Atlanta roof is no place for a homeowner. Without proper training and safety equipment, homeowners can risk a lot by climbing onto their homes’ roofs. The safest way to inspect your home’s roof is to hire a local, trusted roofing contractor to perform the job thoroughly, using safety harnesses.

The second-best way to inspect your home’s roof is to climb an extension ladder that goes no higher than your gutters, then visually scanning from the ladder only. Look for issues pointing toward roof repair, or more substantial issues calling for roof replacement.

Repair

Signs of roof repair will always be isolated and minor. A roof with these indicators means a roof repair job, not a full replacement:

• One or two loose shingles
• One piece of flashing dislodged (say, from around a chimney)
• Abrasion or wear in only one spot (from a rubbing tree branch, for example)
• A single area of water infiltration
• Discoloration from small patches of moss or algae

The challenge with shingle roof repair on an older home is color-matching replacement shingles, but with the right roofing contractor, your home can look spring-clean new at a lower cost than a full roof replacement.

Replace

The Atlanta-area home with extensive, pervasive problems may show these indicators of roof replacement:

• Advanced age
• Water infiltration in several areas
• Signs of rot in the sheathing or fascia boards
• Rusted panels in metal roofing
• Several missing shingles or tiles, or broken slates
• Significant granule deposits in gutters
• Uplifted shingles across much of the roof
• Curled, split, cupped or cracked shingles

An Atlanta home’s roof in need of replacement, not just repair, will not improve with time. Putting off the necessary replacement will only lead to more leaks, more degradation of the water-resistant surfaces, and higher costs.

Echols Roofing can help you decide between repair or roof replacement. After safely inspecting your roof, our trained representatives can point out the issues your roof has, and recommend the most effective, least expensive solution. Contact us today to set up a spring cleaning appointment with your safest choice in roof repair or replacement, Echols Roofing.