Life is all about maintenance.

For your body to remain in tip-top shape even as you grow older, for instance, it requires a healthy lifestyle. Relationships, on the other hand, require constant time and effort to maintain. Even your car needs to be consistently maintained to ensure its excellent working state. Your house is no exception to this. And one of the most important parts of the house to maintain, for obvious reasons, whether it’s the sunny or rainy season, is the roof.

Roofs require regular inspections and repairs.

One may think, as others do for regular health check-ups, both platonic and romantic dates, and vehicle tune-ups, all of which are measures taken to maintain, may be a waste of resources. But as part of the maintenance of each of the respective things mentioned, these must be done to prevent diseases, breakdowns, or, in the case of roofs: leaks or decays, saving more resources— time, money, and effort in the long run.

According to roofpedia.com, there are many kinds of roofs: Gable Roof, Flat Roof, Hip Roof, Gambrel Roof, Dutch Hip Roof, Shed Roof, Mansard Roof, Butterfly Roof, Winged Gable Roof, A-Frame Roof, and Folded Plate Roof. Similarly, many kinds of roof materials used in constructing these roofs: Asphalt Shingles, Wood Shake, Slate Shingles, Metal, Tile, and Membrane Roofing Material. But whatever kind of roof you have or whatever it is made of, here are life hacks in roof maintenance that you can surely apply.

Photo Credit: roofpedia.com

Inspect the roof regularly.

In the article Regular Roofing Maintenance it is advised to inspect the roof at least twice a year, once before and once after the most severe season. It is emphasized that "a roof that is not regularly maintained will only last about half of its expected service life". But before you get down (or in since you’ll be working on the roof, up) to business, it is suggested that you check your files. The articles list questions to ask yourself before proceeding to the actual inspection or repair:

• Do you have all of the paperwork you need?
• How about a copy of the warranty?
• Do you have the names and phone numbers of the companies that have been involved with the roof — previous inspectors, roofing contractors, architects, manufacturer technical services?
• Do you have a copy of all the repair orders and the results of the repairs made?
• Do you have a roof plan, drawn to scale, showing not only all equipment on the roof, but also the locations of any leaks and any repairs made?

After taking a look at your files, you may proceed with the inspection. Houselogic.com lists what to look for when conducting an inspection of the roof:

• Cracked caulk or rust spots on flashing.
• Shingles that are buckling, curling, or blistering.
• Missing or broken shingles.
• Cracked and worn rubber boots around vent pipes.
• Missing or damaged chimney cap. (OK, that's technically not part of your roof, but since you're looking anyway.)
• Masses of moss and lichen, which could signal the roof is decaying underneath. Black algae stains are just cosmetic.

If you find piles of colored grit from asphalt roof tiles in the gutters, that's a bad sign — those sand-like granules cover the surface of roof shingles and shield them from the sun's damaging ultraviolet rays. Check the age of your roofing and see if it's nearing the end of its life cycle.

Know when to contact roof experts.

While some advice to do the roof inspection on your own, others believe it is safer and more efficient to hire someone, a roof expert perhaps, to do it on your behalf. In the event that you find yourself choosing the latter option, contact professional roofing companies and make sure to seek at least two bids for repair work. You may find a suitable company for your specific needs at guamcontractors.org, which has 545 members to-date.

Maintain and repair promptly.

Alliedinsurance.com, meanwhile, lists what to do in the most basic roof repair situations:

• Look for missing, damaged or curling shingles and any other signs of wear and tear. It's easy and inexpensive to replace one or two shingles, or to hire someone to do it for you.
• Inspect metal areas for rust. If it's present, wire brush the rust, then prime and paint the metal.
• Examine the flashing to make sure it's solid. If not, remove all of the old caulk and scrub the area clean before resealing.
• Seal any cracked mortar or caulking around joints and chimneys, if it appears to be deteriorating.

Photo Credit: hometownroofingcontractors.com

Karen Warseck. President of Building Diagnostics Associates, a Hollywood, Fla., architecture firm, states that this is the most important step among all:

"The most important part of the check-up is to follow through with repairs to the problems noted. If you have a roof consultant do the inspection, he or she can provide a specification with a defined scope of work to bid the repairs to qualified contractors. If you have contracted for a maintenance program with a roofer, be sure to give the contractor your list of problems so that everything is repaired… If you provide regular check-ups and follow through with repairs to the small problems that are found from year to year, you can be more comfortable knowing that you are saving a lot of money in the long term."

Most importantly, it is wise to remember the words of late American President John F. Kennedy: "The time to repair the roof is when the sun is shining."