Beware of extreme weather

AAR Expert Henry Staggs says heat can do a lot of damage to any kind of roofing material.

Editor's note: The following is the transcript of a live interview with AAR Expert Henry Staggs. You can read the interview below or watch the recording.

Henry Staggs: Hi everybody, Henry here, the Arizona Roofer, doing this short video for askaroofer.com. If you have questions about roofing, go to askaroofer.com and you'll ask your questions on that website and there will be experts from all around the country who will give you answers to your question that should help you figure out what you want to do.

And if you notice, I'm wearing my Brava hat. I actually got an opportunity to show that material to a client down in Tucson who is interested in upgrading his roof system. And I like that stuff. It's really neat, a really neat product. Hopefully I get to install it, and if I do, I'll show you guys a video of that install.

All right, now what I want to talk about today, though, is the Arizona specific weather threats to your roof. So in Arizona we get a lot of sun and we get a lot of heat, and the heat can really do a lot of damage to any kind of roofing material over time, which is why it's very important to maintain it. We're going to talk about that here in a second. So we are subjected to not only the heat, but you get your monsoon rains, which if you're in Arizona, you know they hit areas, sometimes larger or smaller areas and when they hit, they hit hard. You can have high winds, and yes, even hail. We do get hail damage in Arizona, and on the occasion we may get snow.

And all of these things can do an awful lot of damage to your roof. So for example, a heavy rain, like a downpour all of a sudden, if you've got your drains are clogged up, this would be more specifically on a commercial roof, if your drains are clogged up, you can end up with water ponding or filling up on that roof. And I am sad to say there have been buildings where the roofs have collapsed.

And here in Arizona, specifically a Safeway that I really remember a lot because it also collapsed and caught on fire, there was a weird situation where the water on the roof collapsed the roof, broke the gas line, the chicken [inaudible 00:01:55] caught on fire, so water caused a fire. Weird, right? So you never know. You've got to be very careful. Make sure those drains are cleaned up. And on your residential roof too, especially if you have a low slope roof, make sure the water can get off the roof, right?

Then we have our high winds, are also called Haboobs and they can lift material up and throw it right off of your roof. So proper installation is important, of course, especially around the edge. The drip edge metal and all that stuff should be properly fastened because that's where the wind's going to hit the roof first and have the most forces at the very lower end and at the top end of your roof. So I want to make sure those are installed properly.

And if you do see any wind damage while it's small, like for example, a church that I met with, one of the congregants over there, they have very small wind damage. I'm going to go over and take care of it for them. I'm not going to charge them for that because it's a real small thing. But those small things can turn into large things.

Now with hail, even though you might not think Arizona we get hail, but we do. And what happens with hail typically is they will break the membrane, and you might not even be able to see it very clearly. It may just look like a little dent or scratch, but it has broken the membrane of your roofing material, which can compromise and allow a water intrusion. It also can crack your tiles and it can dent metal flashings and cause damage that can cause water to go places where it's not supposed to go.

Now we do get a lot of heat in Arizona, but we also have cold days and they'll come suddenly. And I know because I've woken up in my house in the morning and it's freezing out here, and it's thirty-some degrees and that's insane because this is Arizona, right? But it does happen. And when that happens, we get this thing that's called thermal stress. You think of thermal stress, a lot of guys may think of heat right away, but it's not always heat. It can be cold. Thermal just means temperature. So whether it's cold or hot, it's going to have an effect on the material with expansion and contraction. When you get cold, you contract, right? Because you're [inaudible 00:03:49]. When you're hot, you can spread out. Oh, warm up. That's your body. That just is a little example.

That happens with the material too. And it can contract and it can expand, and when that happens it can cause what's called thermal crack. So it can split and tear the material, which will then compromise the material and allow for water intrusion. So what do you do about it? Well, prevention, preventative maintenance obviously is the key. And this should be done regularly. If not once a year, twice a year would be perfect. Just right before and right after our monsoon season would be perfect. Have your roof inspected at least once, twice would be great, too, per year by a professional such as myself.

And then choosing the right material for your roof. So what is going on inside the building? Is it your residential? Is it your commercial? Do you have a restaurant? Is it a dry cleaner? Is it just a retail store? Believe it or not, what goes on under the roof has a lot of impact on the roof itself.

If you're in a kitchen, for example, there's a lot of moisture and heat that's being developed inside that building and that heat can go up into the attic space or into the decking and up into the roof system and it can cause problems, the heat and the moisture, too, that you produce in the restaurant. So that's the best thing you can do. Choose the right material, regular maintenance, do regular inspections. Don't skimp on that stuff. It's very important because the roof is protecting you and everything underneath your roof, including your family.

So if you have questions, like I said at the beginning of this video, go to askaroofer.com, askaroofer.com,and you'll get answers to your roofing questions from experts all around the country, including here in Arizona. And if you're here in Arizona and you need some roofing work or you want your roof looked at, or you have questions about roofing in general or you just like to talk about roofing like I do, you can call me at 480-435-5190. You can also visit me online at www.thearizonaroofer.com. And actually, I'm having my website redesigned right now by a very good website developer. So I'm looking forward to seeing what it looks like. So maybe check back later and you can tell me what you think of it.

So you guys have a great day. I hope you enjoyed the music I have in the background, trying to have a calming environment. And Brava, that's a really neat product. If you're looking for an upgraded system, reach out to me and we can look at doing a Brava or maybe a metal roof or something like that. So thank you, and have a great day. Bye now.