When something punctures your roof this is an emergency roofing issue that should be addressed immediately. Punctures can expose your roof to leaks and that can cause interior damage. Punctures can happen when intense pressure and combination of weight land on the roof.

Roof damage from punctures allow moisture to seep through the protective underlayment and membranes. Punctures can happen at any time and they are most risky when it exposes the underlayment.

The most common cause of punctures is due to negligence. Ignoring minor issues and careless behavior may cause them to happen.

Another way roof punctures can happen is from falling debris, that usually happens from hail and storms.

Preventive measures to take to prevent roof punctures to happen is to minimize foot traffic on the roof. Although roof issues will arise eventually, constant stepping on the roof can cause a small part of the roof to become weak.

Besides allowing roof technicians on the roof, avoid the roof just for leisure or for sunbathing. Preventive maintained is also a step that most people will overlook. Having a regular preventive maintained schedule identifies any roof issues that you can have addressed immediately. Just to give an example during a preventive maintained check, a visible water dam with debris such as leaves and twigs will stay moist and will eventually weaken the roof structure in that area. A puncture can easily happen.

If you have trees around your house you will want to keep them trimmed to prevent them from crashing onto the roof. Windstorms can cause branches to break and come crashing down. If they land on the roof, you are looking at punctures and some structural damage may occur. You also do not want the branches touching your shingles as they will wear off the granules and cause the shingles to become weak as well.

You will want to make sure that your satellite dishes and solar panels are firmly attached to prevent wind storms from ripping them off. If they are not installed firmly, during a wind storm they can rip off
shingles, flashing and sometimes even the underlayment below. If you have any questions or if you feel that you may have damage from a recent storm, calling a roofing professional for an inspection and preventive maintained check will potentially save you money from any underlying problems.