Often there are many things that are going wrong with the home that you currently own or the house that you’re thinking of buying, that you’ll need to have a good look at before they become worse. Left untreated, a small repair can spiral into a larger issue that can create some big money problems. As well, there are times when small issues are all that needs to be addressed for years to come and the big repair job can be held off on, for quite some time.
The flashing on a roof is a good place to start looking for a few simple ‘fixes’ so that you don’t wind up buying or selling a complete fixer upper home. One of the first things that you’ll need to do before you even start, is to prepare yourself to work safely on the roof of your home and this quite often means buying a proper safety harness that will prevent a fall. That said, the flashing is one of the places that you’ll want to start since bad or corroded flashing can allow water to run or seep into the house and cause all sorts of other damage.
If the flashing is badly corroded, it’s generally best that you call in a professional, but if there are only a piece or two to replace you may be able to handle the job yourself. For example, it’s a good idea to restore flashing that is worn in spots and to do this you’ll need to wear goggles and safety glasses and clean the flashing first with a wire brush. Then wipe the surface with a clean moist rag and then using medium grade sandpaper, remove any remaining rust. Finally you can wipe off the surface with a clean rag. Getting to a job like this early will prevent the kind of extensive corrosion that will cost a lot of money later and could be the difference between the home’s classification in the real estate market as what’s called a handyman special and a regular purchase.
Next you can patch the flashing with either cement that works nicely on the smaller cracks and pinholes or with fiberglass that’s next to invisible if the damage will be visible form the ground. As well, there are many different kinds of metal paints that are available on the market that can be matched with your existing colors so that the repair job will not be visible from the ground.
Repairing flashing is usually a small job that serves several purposes. First it prevents any further damage that can cost in resale value by reclassifying the home as a fixer upper, and second it helps with the overall appearance from the outside.
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