Do-it-yourself projects have become a way of life for many people in recent years. A study established that at least 84% of the participants engage in DIY projects. Their main reason is they have a lot of spare time.
If you want to try out DIY roofing, give it some thought first. Forget about those internet videos that portray a roofing project as something anybody can do. There are various risks you should be aware of beforehand.
You don’t want to start a project to encounter insurmountable obstacles when it’s too late. Here are the disadvantages of DIY roofing.
It May End Up Being Costly
Trying to minimize the costs of projects is one of the main reasons that drive people to DIY projects. For some projects, this holds, but in roof repairs, that is seldom the case.
First, appreciate that you are not a professional. Chances are high that you’ll make some mistakes while doing the roofing. Errors compound the problems in the long run leading to the need for expensive repairs.
For example, water may start penetrating the other structural components of your house. Such structures will start growing mold or experience other forms of damage because of the seepage. Repairing these structures isn’t cheap.
Second, the cost has a qualitative aspect to it. You must factor the time you’ll take engaging in DIY roof repairs into the project’s overall cost. Spending a lot of valuable time on minor repairs robs you of the valuable time you could use on other important tasks.
Getting it right the first time for a roofing project is best. DIY doesn’t guarantee this. On the other hand, a professional company providing roofing services provides this assurance.
DIY Roofing Has Safety Risks
Most DIY roofing tutorials don’t focus on the safety precautions you must comply with during the job. Yet there are many ways that you could hurt yourself or others as you work on the project. Perhaps the most common danger is the risk of slipping and falling from a high point.
Before you start working on a roofing project, you need to learn how to place a ladder in the right position. It would help if you learned how to move objects, at times heavy ones, up and down the ladder without any incidences. These are crucial skills that take time to learn and perfect.
It’s also important to know how to walk on a sloppy roof that could be slippery because of the prevailing weather conditions. Don’t forget a powerful gust of wind has the potential to knock you off the roof.
Skills, experience, and the necessary safety equipment are essential in mitigating these safety concerns. That’s something few DIY tutorials will show or tell you. Engaging professionals for the project is in your best interest if you want to avert serious safety scares.
Termination of Your Insurance and Warranty
Before you start DIY roofing, check if you have a warranty from the contractor who built your home. It’s common for some of them to provide warranties. You’d be surprised that you qualify for a free replacement service since you’re well within the warranty period.
When you do a roofing project on your own, you risk voiding the warranty. You are an unlicensed roofer. Therefore, doing any repair or replacement work on your roof cancels the warranty.
Insurance companies are quite thorough when it comes to compensation for roof replacement. The firms send their representatives to investigate the cause of a roof’s damage. It’s easy for them to know if someone lost their roofing because they were trying to replace or repair it themselves.
The Wrong Repair
This is a common occurrence, and it arises from inadequacy in skills. Think of a roof as a patient who starts experiencing some symptoms. A visit to the doctor will reveal the exact disease and the treatment regimen for this patient.
If the patient researched the symptoms online, they’d get various opinions, each suggesting a different disease. This patient will likely get a treatment suggestion for an illness they don’t have.
The same applies to a roof. Failure to trace the root cause of a problem leads to wrong and often expensive repairs. Many DIY roofing repair videos online show you how to solve the issue; they don’t show you how first to identify the root cause of a problem.
Remember that an improper repair may conceal the real problem for a while, giving you the impression that you’re safe. The problem may snowball in magnitude over time. Then, one day you wake up to a roof caving into the property.
Time Wastage
It looks so easy that you develop the urge to repair a roof on your own when you watch a professional do it. Don’t delude yourself; professionals have been doing the work for a long time. For you, the project would probably be your first one.
You’ll take a long time trying to figure out what goes where. Then you’ll have to refer to the manual/video all the time to make sense of what you’re supposed to do. The workload could become unbearable, assuming you don’t have a team to help you.
Time wastage becomes more apparent when you must re-do the work because you failed to make the correct repairs. The more time you spend on the roof, the higher the chances of other complications developing. For example, seepage of water may occur when you don’t replace all the shingles you intended to in a day.
A professional knows the time they’ll require to resolve any issue. They’ll institute measures to protect your property if the work takes more than a day.
Get Professional Help
DIY roofing is a gamble that’s advisable to steer clear of. It all looks fun and easy to repair/replace a roof when you read about it or watch tutorials. If that were the case, authorities would not need to license professionals to provide the service.
If you have any roofing issues, seek advice from a professional. Working with professionals saves on time, money, and regrets. Get a free estimate from Freeman Exteriors today.
