Wicks Roofing and Solar says they have seen a 30 percent increase in roofing repairs over the past two weeks and are expecting to see more ahead of the rainy season.
Wicks Roofing and Solar Project Manager Omar Vargas says they've seen a higher demand for roof repairs and the company is prepared to take even more calls as the rain starts to fall.
“We have probably seen like a 30 percent increase in the past couple of weeks which we’re expecting to see more once the rain just comes down,” Vargas said. “Even a drop.”
David Pap, the estimator for the company, says they've been seeing higher numbers of calls since the rain last winter.
“We’re seeing a definite increase in the call volume but it's been that way all year actually,” Pap said. “It’s been that way since the big storms we had at the beginning of the year.”
Vargas says many homeowners don't check their roofs often enough and the lack of maintenance causes leaks.
“One of the most common things I see is people who haven’t walked the roof or haven’t been up there,” Vargas said. “We notice a lot of pipe penetrations that aren’t properly sealed anymore and that’s where we noticed a lot of leaks coming through and that’s a minor fix."
Vargas says the layer under the shingles can also deteriorate.
According to Owens Corning, roofing underlayment is used as a barrier material that gets installed directly onto a roof deck and offers a secondary layer of protection from moisture.
Homes that have tiled roofs may see more of an impact from the heat.
“Obviously, we do see a lot of issues with like tile roofs — the underlayment being burnt out," Vargas said. “A lot of people don’t see that tile itself is, you know, diminishing its integrity but underneath, that underlayment does take a beating with the sun.”
Pap says leaves can also cause problems if they clog up gutters.
“As trees are starting to lose their leaves and they land on the roof and all those leaves build up a matter of debris on the roof,” Pap said. “They would be good to go up there and remove all that tree debris. If it's up there maybe it's also in the gutters. It also might be, depending on the orientation of their house, if it's behind a chimney they want to remove that, so all the water can properly drain.”
Vargas says various roof repair companies in the area are quite busy around the fall.
“A lot of people understand, especially right now, that a lot of roofing companies are really backed up, so the fact that you can take care of their needs, they’re really happy about that,” Vargas said.
Vargas adds that if you have not gotten your roof inspected, now is the time.
He says roof inspections are recommended at least every three years during the summer.
