When You Should Replace Your Roof Rather Than Repair It

Replacing your roof can be a big expense, and it’s not something you should do lightly. When your roof is damaged, you need to start by asking yourself, can your roof be repaired instead of replaced?  

At Parish Roofing Solutions, our job is to help you make an informed and educated decision about the best way to fix your roof. When it comes down to it, there are several reasons why you may want to go ahead and buy a new roof instead of just repairing your old one. There are a lot of factors involved in knowing when to replace a roof, and we’ll help you navigate them all. 

Your Roof is Already Getting Old

If you’ve been taking care of your roof, it has probably lasted you a while. But even when you use the best materials and work hard to take care of it, all roofs have an expected lifespan. So the question you really need to be asking is how often you need to replace a roof in Texas. 

Here, you can expect your roof to last somewhere between 10 and 20 years. So if something happens to damage your roof, and it’s already 15 years old or more, it may just be better to replace it. Even if the issue itself isn’t bad enough to make you buy a new roof, it may not make financial sense to invest the cost of repairs into an old roof that is going to need to be replaced in just a few years anyway.  

It’s a lot like dealing with a car. It may seem cheaper to do some repairs and patch things up, but even that smaller investment may cost more than the car (or roof) is worth.  It’s better to pay for a full replacement now than to pay for a repair today, and still have to replace it in a year or two. 

The Damage is Extensive and Widespread

When you need to replace roof shingles, it may seem straightforward to just do some repairs and leave it at that. And if the damage is only on one or two parts of the roof, that may be the best option. But even when you just have to replace shingles, there can be reasons that this is the time when you should fully replace your roof. When the damage is spread out over multiple areas of the roof, it can be a real problem. 

Anytime you have to remove shingles, you’re breaking into the roof system.  A good professional roofer has processes that do as little harm as possible, but it’s kind of like doing surgery - after you’ve opened it up, things aren’t going to be as perfect as they were before. 

Once the shingles are pierced, they just aren’t going to be as tight and sealed and perfect as they are when installing a new roof.  In one spot, that may be OK, but the more areas that are affected, the more chances you’ll have of something going wrong. At that point, it’s usually better to just start over with a new roof.

The Repairs Will Affect the Underlayment

Sometimes it’s not about how often you need to replace the roof - sometimes it’s just about the type of damage you’re dealing with. 

Anytime you’re going to have to do any underlayment repairs - removing shingles and disturbing the felt lining that covers the decking - it’s going to be a major intrusion into your system.  While it may not always end in a full roof replacement, it is going to create a weak spot in your roof. You’ll really need to talk to a professional roofer to decide whether that weak spot is small enough to live with, or whether it’s going to make more sense to just replace it.

At Parish Roofing Solutions, we’ve got the training and experience to help you make those hard decisions. Our goal is to help educate you, so you can make the right choice for your home. 

We want to save you as much money as possible. Sometimes that means doing an easy repair, and that takes care of everything. Other times, it will make more financial sense for you to get a full replacement - costing more upfront, but keeping you from having to waste money repairing a roof that’s going to have to be removed soon anyway. 

But whatever decision you make, we’re here to make sure you get a safe, solid roof that will protect you and your family at a price you can afford.