Asphalt shingles are a great roofing material used by most Americans today, it’s cost effective, durable, and very versatile. So obviously lots of people will end up getting it installed on their home’s roof. Unfortunately, not many people take the time to figure out what they should and shouldn’t do when doing cleaning on their asphalt shingles in Canton Michigan. That’s why we’re going to go over the do’s and don’ts that can help you maintain your asphalt shingles and keep them in good condition, while still being effective and cleaning them up.

Maintaining Your Asphalt Shingles

Keeping your roof well maintained will best prevent problems from happening, this means you won’t have a roof that’s failing prematurely before it reaches its lifespan. Keeping up with your asphalt roof’s requirements is a huge step in keeping your home protected throughout the harsh weathers that can hit your home. So make sure to follow closely as we explain the do’s and don’ts when it comes to cleaning and maintaining your asphalt shingles.

What You Should Do:

Clean Debris From Your Gutters

Gutters may not seem that important to you, however they serve a major role in controlling the water on and around your home, without gutters you’d find your home suffering from major problems without any hesitation. So it’s very important to clean out the debris from your gutters, this will continue allowing water to flow properly to your downspout and away from your house. If your gutters become clogged, you’ll see that water can start water damaging your home’s asphalt shingles.

Trim Back Tree Branches

While trees may look beautiful and give your home a higher curb appeal, you’ll certainly want to know that tree branches that hang above your roof can cause a lot of damage and issues to your home’s roof. The best thing to keep problems from happening is by trimming back the tree branches near your roof to ensure debris from them aren’t clogging up your gutters and that they won’t damage your roof if they snap off and fall. Of course this can be extremely dangerous to do, so it’s best to hire a professional to trim them back for you instead of trying to do it yourself.

Schedule Professional Inspections

Inspections can help you majorly by finding issues before they become worse, however many homeowners aren’t that experienced with roofing problems so you could overlook a lot of things while inspecting your asphalt shingles. So it’s ideal to schedule a professional roofer to come and inspect your roof for you, that way you can be sure that no problem has been left unseen by you.

What You Shouldn’t Do:

Don’t Use Bleach When Cleaning Your Asphalt Shingles

If you’ve got algae growing on your asphalt shingles, then you may be tempted to use bleach since it can pretty easily remove it. However, this should be avoided as bleach can cause problems to the metal on your roof such as your roof’s flashing or gutters. So avoid using any chemicals that could result in damaging your asphalt shingles or aspects of your roof.

Don’t Pressure Wash Your Roof

A lot of homeowners will be tempted to pressure wash their roof as it can make the process way quicker than manually cleaning your asphalt shingles. This should be avoided at all cost, pressure washers can use extremely high force to shoot water onto your shingles, this can lead to a lot of issues. It can rip off your asphalt shingles, crack them, or even remove the top protective layer which consist of granules off of your shingles. So avoid this at all cost even if you get tired of cleaning your roof, it’s just best not to go the pressure washing route.

Cleaning your asphalt shingles can be a dreadful job to do, however it can serve a lot of benefits by keeping your home’s roof in great shape. While many homeowners choose to clean and maintain their own roof’s, it’s actually not recommended. The reason being is you can easily damage your asphalt shingles and even injure yourself in the process. So it’s best for you to hire a professional roofing company like Twelve Oaks Roofing to keep your roof cleaned and maintained instead. Call Twelve Oaks Roofing today at (248) 525-6950 for a roof inspection on your home.